


Redstone Soda

by chreemy_froot



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Hermitcraft - Freeform, Non canon compliant, Prologue, Respawning, and brain said "just do it", and i was like "ok", and i was like why, and now im here with unnecessary doubt because i feel its too much agnst, and zedaph, basically all the hermits, blood warning, evil hermits, except stress, grian is not allowed to brew special things anymore, hermitcraft season 7, i fuckin DERAILED this entire fic, ill add more tags as I go, it doesnt follow well with canon i know, like every hermit has an evil version, made up aetherkind, season 4, season 5, so when redstone soda is actually made, sorry scar, this is literally just me dying in the corner because my stupid brain went "hooheeee a ng s t", we're not at the main storyline yet, yay, yeah uh i added Siren in. good animator. check her out, you have to wait for the main storyline to start, youll get context on it later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chreemy_froot/pseuds/chreemy_froot
Summary: So what happens when Grian learns what Redstone tastes like? Simple! He turns it into a drink!Ingredients:Dragon's Breath1 Melted Diamond3 Teaspoons of fine crushed Glowstone.1 Tablespoon of Redstone1 Bowl of Suspicious stew.Grian and Doc are no longer allowed to drink suspicious stew unsupervised anymore(there's a lot of prologue and a lot of angst in this.)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 75





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Aetherkind, a lost species, right? They're told as the opposite as Netherkind, who has been thriving, never defeated. Told as a long cousin species to the Voidkind. Well, not all Aetherkind are dead. That's what they all say.  
> Until Redstone Soda came along. A dangerous drink that keeps you up for 5 days and has the potential to charge creepers with just one bottle.

The builder stared upon the burning islands, Vex had been released into the fine, calm world. He smiled, adjusting his black leather jacket. Voidkind were already annoying, but at least they learned how to keep their magic out of the Nether. But Aetherkind? They were terrible. They just have to shove their way into the Nether, just going around and kidnapping all the Withersoul Skeletons, and repurposing them with their magic. He despised them. Took away his friends and brainwashed them. They raised him as a younger child, but abandoning him in the Nether when he was at his weakest? That could never be forgiven. Being raised in the Nether taught him how to fight, how to defend-

A bolt of lightning cracked behind him, footsteps following, which caught the man off-guard. Damn. He got lost in his thoughts again.   
  
"The middle island is down. All that's left is the upper islands." EX informed, walking next to the builder. "What next?"  
"Good, good. One of the two islands is down. Pause the attack for now. Let them have a sense of false safety. We will next strike when they least expect it." A devilish grin crept onto Badtime's face.   
  
"Very well, friend. The end of Aetherkind is very soon. I'll send a message to CubVex." EX changed into his voidling form, running off the small island debris they were on and disappearing with a lightning strike.  
  
This left Badtimes alone with his thoughts again, who was now considering what to do with his brother. The one who had been loved and praised by them. Who was abused and hated by the Nether and Voidkind. Whos only source of light were his friends and the Aetherkind. Badtimes had to keep just one Aetherkind alive. Just for his brother. And he knew exactly who to keep. Digging out his communicator, Badtimes messaged CubVex and Hels.  
  
**[highschool emo gang rise up]**

  
**[BadTimeWithScar]: Hels, Cub.**

**[CubVex]: yeah? kinda busy right now**

**[Helsknight]: same here. make it quick**

**[BadTimeWithScar]: I need you to direct all vex away from a certain aetherkind**

**[CubVex]: who?**

**[BadTimeWithScar]: Your brother.**

**[BadTimeWithScar]: He needs your brother. and hels, fight off anyone who gets in our way. I need you to knock him out. Ill do the job of amnesia. Understand?**  
  
**[CubVex]: absolutely.**

**[Helsknight]: knights code. Ill do whatever it takes**

**[BadTimeWithScar]: Friends till the end?**

**[CubVex]: Friends till the end.**

**[Helsknight]: Friends till the end.**

* * *

EX was trying his hardest, but he just couldn't catch up. The man in front of him was just too fast for the Voidkind to run to, even in his Voidling form. Every time he tried to teleport in front of him, the seeming ninja always had a way around. The fire spine on him was burning high, which took away stealth points, but let's be honest, would a giant, dark-blue lightning bull even need stealth? No. Absolutely not.

The aetherkind ninja looked behind him, a black mask covering their mouth, who proceeded to give him a taunting look (Which enraged EX) before vanishing. EX stopped midrun, looking around confused before switching back to his normal body. He grunted, opening his buzzing communicator. Previous messages talked about saving Vex's brother, which he wasn't in the plan for. He typed a few messages before deciding against it. Sighing, he just sent a status message.

**[emo gang rise up]**

**[EvilXisuma]: Target E7O got away.**

**[EvilXisuma]: Moving to the next target. Will be the last one of the day  
**

Closing his communicator, he scrolled through the list of people. The final person on the list didn't show up. Strange. He kept reloading the image, but it only said [NPC ERROR. NPC ERROR]. Strange. He never got that error before, but he was tired and EX decided to call it a day, striking himself with lightning and teleporting back to his nether home.  
  
Upon arrival at his house, he took off his armor and changed into his tank top and pajama pants, then he went to the kitchen to cook himself some soup. But waiting in the kitchen was someone unexpected.  
  
  
"So, Alex, I heard a new season with the hermits is starting soon. Season 5, and more new people will be in it." Eskall grinned, swinging a knife around on his finger.  
  
"Mhmm, why are you in my kitchen." EX took some chocolate milk from the fridge, sitting on the countertop.  
  
"I was just wondering, who's new to it?" He stuck the knife in a cutting board, edge down.

"You already know this. Go talk to Badtimes about it, I'm going to bed." EX tried to go to his room, but the shorter man stood in his way, a gun pointed to his chest.

"You will not leave." Eskall threatened with a harsh, icy tone to his voice.  
  
"Uhh, buddy? What are you doing?" EX started to consider lightning striking the hell outta there, but given how fast Eskall is and his tracker on his diamond eye, he couldn't evade talking with him. And his house would catch fire.  
  
"Give me information on StressMonster. Then I'll let you go." Eskall lowered his gun, his threats definitely not hollow this time.  
  
"Fine. On one condition."   
  
"And what is that?"  
  
" _Stay the fuck away from Scar and X. If you do **anything** to them, I will personally ban you until season 7._" As he said that, EX took the knife from the cutting board and lightly cut Eskalls cheek.  
  
"Yes- Yes sir." Eskall piped, wiping his cheek of the blood.

EX lowered the knife "Good. Now please leave." Eskall nodded, walking out of the house, intimidated. EX sighed, sluggishly walking to his bed and promptly collapsing on it. He needed to clear his mind. He needed to forget what he did. He didn't necessarily _want_ to be evil, but something inside him pushed him to do it. Exhaling, he turned off the light and hugged his stuffed shark.  
  
  
He just needed to clear his mind.  
  
Just for a moment.


	2. Prologue (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The injured man looked to the side, panting heavily. He's gone over his limit. Again. Like an idiot. Laying there, he looked at his legs, broken and bloodied, and barely usable in this state, and the only reason he wasn't there and crying out in pain was, well, he needed to stay low and not get caught by the creatures, which kept his adrenaline pumping for the meantime. He lied there, waiting. Waiting for the healer to arrive.
> 
> Black spots intruded in his vision as he was losing his adrenaline. He decided that he couldn't wait for someone to come, he stifled a grunt of pain as he army-crawled over to the burn signals, snapping one of them in half with his arm, letting out a tall, glowing purple flare of smoke that stood there like a beacon's light. His vision grew dark before he could see a tall, winged figure swoop down from the sky and rescue him"

He jumped and dashed around the half-destroyed village, dodging every attack that the bull behind him was making. Although the ninja didn't want to admit it, he slacked off on his obstacle exercises because he thought he wouldn't need to use those abilities. Boy was he wrong. Lightning and fire trailed behind, almost catching up to him. Stopping now would be a death sentence, and hearing that this dimension has been set to hardcore didn't make that better.   
  
Turning through the alleys, he saw that the end of the trail for him was right up ahead. And this is where he made that life-or-death decision. Looking behind him, he taunted the bull before teleporting. 

Then he was falling. He shouldn't have done it earlier. But he did. And now he was falling into the seemingly endless abyss of the Aether. Hitting too low would mean death. Maybe one more teleport and-  
  
Uh oh. Now he found some sort of land as he teleported into the sky again, but it would result in injuries. Anything to not die though. He braced for impact.

200 feet.

100 feet.

50 feet.

**_CRASH_ **  
  


* * *

Falling and falling. Rolling and rolling. Tumbling and rumbling. The ninja never recognized these areas, but he was rolling down what felt like was a bottomless mountain. Rocks dug into his legs, sharp pains all throughout his body. Somethingcaught onto his arm, biting at it, which sent a rush of adrenaline coursing through his body again.   
  
The ninja then stopped. Looking straight up from where he was laying, a grey, black, and void-like sky was looming overhead.

_This is not the End, but it's not the Aether. What was it?  
  
_Shrieks were heard from....somewhere. He couldn't tell. His ears were ringing. Something was flying overhead. A large, zombie-like creature was seen from the corner of his eye, standing there like a statue. People could be heard from a distance, but now it felt like the noises were blending into each other. 

Looking at his legs, the ninja saw just how bloody they were. They felt numb. He couldn't move them. Broken. He felt something in his pocket. Burn signals. Even in these hopeless conditions, he still had a chance at summoning The Healer. Right? Right.

He took them out of his pocket, holding them up to the sky. A mark on it was glowing with purple, lighting a beacon of hope in him. Putting his finger around it, he tried to crack it. Nothing.   
He tried cracking it again. Same result. He grunted. Repeatedly trying to crack it, all with the same answer: No cracks.

Then something flew out of his tattered cloak. A butterfly. A big butterfly. A body the size of his head. it tilted its head as if asking for a question. The ninja took it as another sign of hope.  
"Could you help me crack this?" He gave the burn signals to the butterfly, who proceeded to grab them and fly about 5 feet away from where he was laying and laid on the.

Fuck.

He tried to teleport again.

Another bad idea.

He only managed to teleport 15 feet above, and only 1 foot closer to the burn signals. Even worse, he was on his stomach.

He retched when landing. Great.  
The injured man looked to the side, panting heavily. He's gone over his limit. Again. Like an idiot. Laying there, he looked at his legs, broken and bloodied, and barely usable in this state, and the only reason he wasn't there and crying out in pain was, well, he needed to stay low and not get caught by the creatures, which kept his adrenaline pumping for the meantime. He lied there, waiting. Waiting for the healer to arrive.

Black spots intruded in his vision as he was losing his adrenaline. He decided that he couldn't wait for someone to come, so he stifled a grunt of pain as he army-crawled over to the burn signals, snapping one in half with his arm, letting out a tall, glowing purple flare of smoke that stood there like a beacon's light. His vision grew dark before he could see a tall, winged figure swoop down from the sky and rescue him.

* * *

  
Siren had been flying above her homeland for what felt like an eternity, desperate to find someone alive. Her flapping wings grew as white noise, almost lulling her to sleep. Nobody seemed to have burn signals risen, which made her panic even more. If the vex found her, she'd be dead meat. A thunderbolt cracked in the distance, which meant she was safe to fly above that area again.   
  
But something seemed strange. Like the air was a slime around her, pulling her to that area. She knew it was her instincts talking, and 99% of the time, they were correct. 

Something seemed wrong. She flew over to the area, feeling with her magic for what was wrong, but it only picked up a hint of...of what? She couldn't tell. Standing there for a moment, Siren tried to remember the words for it..was it the lightning? No that was different magic.

Teleportation. Only the ninjas knew that, right? It's impossible though. Ninja's couldn't fly to this island. Even the Otherland Aetherkind ninjas couldn't get here, they'd be killed on sight from the vex. Even with teleportation, they'd land on the upperland. The Midland was filled with natural magic that deterred teleportation-

**"** **I FOUND YOU, _BUTTERFLY"_**

Oh no. The aetherkind was too distracted to feel the aura of something _dangerous_.

"What do you want from me, Hels." Siren turned around to find the nether knight riding a skeleton horse, a flaming sword in hand, and a shield in the other.

**"A duel." The knight challenged her.  
**

"And if I don't accept?"

**"I kill you."**

That seemed unfair, right? A non-PVP healer vs. a demon knight who excels at PVP. But evil hermits were evil. Either way, she would have died. Siren knew it, but she had a cheat. Summoning her staff, she nodded.   
"Let's go then. You and me. Right now."

The knight grinned a devilish smile, hopping off the horse and charging at her.

She charged back. 

Then something felt odd.

Mysterious energy cracked through her as she paused, hunching over with her hands clasped over her chest. Hels stopped charging, a confused look on his face. This wasn't part of the plan. 

**[DoctorSiren was banned]**

**[DoctorSiren fell out of the world]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao yeah sorry siren
> 
> I am most active on tumblr, where I post sketches and headcanons of this au. as well as bnha and hermitcraft stuff! :)


	3. Prologue (3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alliance is formed from uncommon conditions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't focus on the things that won't happen.

  
Siren choked, the air of the endless void unfitting for her lungs. Something else was on her mind that wasn't suffocating though.  


_Did I really ban myself?_

She looked around, a rocky landscape and sure enough, yup. She got banned. A giant was standing still, far away. A horde of white things jumping around something with echoes of..screams? Oh great. Killer Bunnies. The uninhabitable landscape was just so, plain. So grey, like an infinite void of a ceiling and a floor like a volcanic land. Giant slimes jumped around, banned players camping in the caves.

But something caught her eye. Glowing purple smoke like a beacons light, coming from a deep ditch.

_Another Aetherkind is here? But I haven't seen messages on my communicator of someone being banned._

Flying over to investigate the burn signals, she found someone unexpected. A ninja. 

"Oh my god." She dropped down near the injured ninja to find a pool of blood around the legs, scrapes and cuts were all over his body. Immediately after seeing this, she summoned her staff and released a burst of healing energy, instantly patching the wounds on the ninja. Deciding to watch over him until he's safe, Siren put out the burn signal. She knit together a large blanket from the excess wool in her inventory to protect her sensitive wings from the cold of the Banlands, which she didn't realize until now just how cold it was here.

The butterfly next to the burn signals caught her eyes as she was knitting the blanket together. Unnaturally large, with purple wings that had a pattern similar to her's. It raised its head from its sleep like a cat, and flew over to her hair, walking around for a bit before laying down like a dog.

"What a cutie." She continued knitting, the weight of the butterfly feeling perfect on her hair. She wanted to name it, but now was the time to watch over the ninja as she knit. It completely distracted her from the fact that, until an admin unbanned her, she could never escape this place. But these distractions were the good ones.

* * *

**You breathed in the humid air of the jungle.**

**The fresh feeling of vines, flowers, and trees, the beach sand on your bare feet.**

**But something was wrong.**

**Your friends are packing up. A portal in front of them.**

**You begged for them to stay. It was just too early.**

**But they said they couldn't. They had to leave. That they'd meet you in the future.  
  
"Please, don't go-" You cried into his shoulder.   
  
He pats your head. "All friends have to say goodbye." **

**Your friends pulled you into a group hug until they let go.**

**You tried to hold on.**

**But the vines of the jungle kept you back.  
**

**Looking back at your friends, tears rolling down your cheek, they all looked different.**

**One is covered in vines, dehydrated. Almost like a skeleton. It seemed he was calling your name. Trapped.**

**The second one was suddenly gone. All features of him only remained as a memory. Gone.**

**The third one has their wrists chained to the floor, struggling. He tried screaming, but something was clamped around his mouth, his eyes full of fear. A scar ran through his eye. Scared.**

**You tried to reach out to them, but then they were gone. The jungle dragged you in against your cries and screams.**

**A goodbye that _hurt_.**

* * *

  
The ninja shot up, gasping in a cold sweat. It felt too real. Way too real. He needed to forget it, it wasn't real. It wasn't real. He hasn't met those people. His breath was shaky as he curled up into a ball.  
  
"It wasn't r _eal it wasn't real itwasnt **realitwasnt** **real-**_ " A hand was on his shoulder, stopping him.  
  
"Hey, you alright?" A well-known face greeted him, wrapped up in a blanket along with a butterfly on her head.  
  
"I- Uh...Am I dreaming?" The ninja was confused. He felt like this was just another mind trick.  
  
"No, you goof. I healed you up! The burn signals!" She pointed to his legs and then the burn signals behind him, which, now that she mentioned it, he did notice his leg felt better.   
  
"Thank you..uhh, what's your name? Kinda forgot." He rubbed his hair, pulling out a few rocks.

"The name's Siren! What's your name ninja?"  
  
"Well, I kinda forgot, you know, falling from above and into whatever this place is. Thanks for healing me. I thought I was a goner."   
  
"Of course! Also, what do you mean you fell?"   
  
"Hm?"  
  
"This is the Banlands. You can't get in or out without being unbanned or banned."  
  
"I just fell from teleporting- Oh. Oh no. I'm an idiot. I overused my powers. I did the one thing I told myself to not do goddammit-"  
  
"Ninja, chill. I didn't finish." She squeezed his shoulder "I got in here because I accidentally banned myself, even though I'm not an admin, I'm just a healer. Strange, right? That's one of our shots at getting out of here. The second shot is that you still have your communicator."   
  


"Oh..woah. I don't think I can handle being alone in this place for long though. I can't focus and time feels irrelevant right now." He shivered.   
  
"Don't worry. Until we get out, we're a duo. Nothing will separate us. Until the end." She smiled "Want a coat? I made one for you while you were out!" Siren handed the ninja a slightly oversized red and black flannel coat with a fur collar. He took it, trying it on.  
  
"It's definitely quite comfy. Thank you, I don't know how to repay you for helping me." He leaned against the steep wall of the ditch, a few rocks and sticks tumbling down.  
  
"As I said, don't worry about it. We need to focus on getting out of here and working together." She stood up, and now that he got a full sight of her, wow was she tall. Like, at least 7 feet. He stood up as well, holding his had out.   
  
"Let's do this." The ninja's eyes were lit with determination. Siren took his hand and shook it. "Once we get out, I know just the place to hide from the vex."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in one night! Im going to pass out now!


	4. Prologue (4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Challenging puzzles and unchecked problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> violence warning in the second thing

  
The admin had been spending his time in a sealed-off black room, coding and coding all day, reviewing the logs. The hermits knew he was a workaholic, and they tried forcing him to take care of himself once. But in this part of the End, Xisuma didn't have to worry about taking care of himself, just him, the logs, and the comfort of a black cat, sleeping on his lap. A strange message had appeared on the dimension logs. One of a player that has never existed in this server, who the hermits considered as an NPC, but not him.  
  


 **[DoctorSiren was banned]  
** **[DoctorSiren fell out of the world]  
  
** He looked through all of the logs from the other dimensions and from days before as well, but it brought up nothing. The voidkind took off his helmet, scratching at his hair. She never joined the hermits. She stood with her own server. And besides, she couldn't even server hop. X slammed his head into the keyboard with a groan. The messages didn't even say _who_ banned her!   
  
As much as the voidkind loved a challenge, this was just a whole new level of challenging. He was so caught up in it that he didn't notice a certain dog enter the room.

"Man, you gotta take some time for yourself. I know you want to figure this out, but you gotta take care of this server too." He walked behind the admin, a cup of hot cocoa in hand. 

"Hm? Ren? How did you get here?" X spun around his chair, hiding the logs tabs.   
  
"You forgot about the ender pearl entrance?" Ren handed him the cup of hot cocoa.  
  
"I- oh. Thanks for the hot cocoa. I'm not anywhere closer to figuring this thing out though." He showed Ren the logs.  
  
"And you checked the logs the day before and the day after too?"  
  
"Mhm."  
  
"She's an admin, right?"  
  
"No, a healer. I barely talk to her but I sometimes go over to the Aether to do an update check with her." The voidkind searched all dimension hops from the past 2 weeks, which only showed the hermits.  
  
"Hmm. Guessing we'd need an Aether admin to help us out here?" Ren rested his elbow on X's head. X nodded, starting to search for something else.  
  
"Wait. Stop. Pay more attention to the 10th and 11th lines of these logs. Last week."  
  
"What about them? They're normal." He took a sip of the cocoa.  
  
"You think that's normal? The people who are hopping?" He pointed to it.

**[EvilXisuma left the world]**

**[BadTimeWithScar left the world]**

"Oh no..not him-" Xisuma's eyes filled with dread. He hasn't heard seen his brother's name in a while.  
"Badtimewithscar? Scar never told us he had a brother before. Did you know this?"   
  
"I never knew he was his brother. I knew he existed but he only stood in the nether, killing overworld animals like sheep and cows."  


_What **were** they doing?  
  
_Ren took the mouse and clicked on one of the messages.  
  
**[BadTimeWithScar (Player) entered: The Aether. {At: 12:42 AM, April 2nd 2017}]  
  
** "..Uh oh." The two spoke in unison.

* * *

  
The commander paced around his house, thinking. Thinking about the next season. He had already read the player invites for the next season. He had seen one of their faces. But they seemed..familiar. Long, brown puffy hair, a salmon-colored coat, long teal jeans, and sandals, and brown eyes. She seemed suspicious. Her name was StressMonster. It just sounded so familiar, but the commander's memory just couldn't grasp onto the memories. His robotic eye kept recalibrating, plates shifting around. It was making him angry. Normally, he'd go off to build a redstone project, but nothing worked. Nothing he built with redstone would work.

Nothing worked and it made him frustrated.   
He paced around the room, scratching his leg subconsciously. Something kept interrupting the signals. It started when EX and Badtimes went to the Aether. Any redstone projects that he had for his base failed. Failed _failed **failed**_.

He tried a different method on it.  
  
It made him **angry**.

He felt like punching somebody. Earlier he threatened EX. Who does that? He yelled at Limbo to the point of tears yesterday. He never cried. He punched the wall. It hurt. A lot. 

Snap out of it, Eskall, there are more important things than redstone.  
  
He left his house to go to Phantom's house. Maybe things will be better there.

Knocking on the door, Eskall waited, scratching his leg. It hurt. But he couldn't stop.

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

Tick. Tick. Tick.  
  
Phantom opened the door, cherry pie in his left hand.  
"Oh, hi Eskall! Haven't seen you in some time, how are things going?" He stepped aside, leaving room for the commander to walk in. 

"Just the fact that none of my redstone is working lately. It's starting to piss me off. I threatened EX yesterday as well as yelling at Limbo to the point of tears. He barely ever cries." He sat down on a barstool with a sigh.  
  
Scratch scratch scratch.  
  
Tick tick tick.  
  
Shift shift shift.  
  
Phantom set the pie down, letting it cool. "Would you like a fidget for now?"   
  
"Yes please." He started tapping his foot against the legs of the stool.

Tap tap tap.

Tick tick tick.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Shift shift shift.  
  
He couldn't help it. He felt restless. _His thigh **h u r t** from the scratching._

He still scratched.

His leg was kicking the table now.  
  
He winced in pain as he scratched. An invisible itch that just wouldn't go away. He held his head with his left hand, cyborg eye constantly shifting around. Sweat ran down his head like rain on a car's window.   
  
"Eskall, are you alright?" Eskall stopped- just for a moment, to look at Phantom, who was holding a stress ball.   
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me." He stopped scratching, but now he was holding his right hand away from his thigh, which was tapping the marble very quickly. His leg still kicked. While his brain said no, his body was desperate to scratch.   
"You're sweating and you look as pale as a ghost. Don't tell me everything is fine." Phantom put the stress ball in front of the commander. Eskall started scratching again, only to have his hand pulled away.

He pulled away getting off the stool, knocking Phantom's hand away before digging his nails into his own left arm, blood seeping out.  
  
"Eskall. Just let me help you. Obviously, something's wrong-" Phantom tried taking Eskalls hand away from his arm, but the commander wasn't having it. A low growl was heard. "Dude, please. I'm worrie-"

**"I DONT FUCKING NEED YOUR HELP, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!"** Eskall roared at Phantom, who was stumbling back into the corner, breathing heavily.   
  
That was the first mistake.  
  
Eskall held Phantom to the wall, hand tightening on his throat. Phantom tried to pry the squeezing hand off of his neck.  
  
" _Please..Eskall. Please stop-_ "  
  
Then his face was met with the commander's fist. A cry of pain let out from the demon man.

**_"You're just as worthless as Tango."_** Eskall growled, dropping his grip on the demon man's throat, who fell with a grunt. 

That was the second mistake.

Tears fell from Phantom's eyes, blood rushing from his nose. His breath was shaky as he tried to gasp for air.

Eskall stomped out of the house, rage seething through his eyes.

* * *

**Rage**

Everything he tried to fix made him restless with rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus christ eskall, calm down


	5. Prologue (5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A burn that just won't leave.  
> A butterfly that understood your needs.  
> A cry that suffered to stay.

Badtimes sat at the end of his bed, hands wrapped around his shoulders. He hadn't even come in contact with the End today, so _**why**_ did it hurt _so much._ _It **b u r n e d.**_ This wasn't even the worst of the pain yet. The scars were old, but they felt like they've just been opened. His communicator buzzed on the bedside table violently. Private messages. The builder stood up, groaning. Who would need him at this time of the night?  
  
_BZZbzzt.  
  
BZZbzzt_

He picked up the device, scrolling through the messages from Phantom.

**{11:42 PM}**

**[PhantomTek]: scar**

**[PhantomTek]: esk;all**

**[PhantomTek]: he did it again**

**[PhantomTek]: his tine he punched me. in the face. it hurts. nose and mouth bloody  
**

**[PhantomTek]: and hes not getting better. the scratching got worse**

Badtimes stared at the screen. Shit. And for once he thought he could get the commander under control, but no, every time Eskall shows signs of getting better, he drops back down again. Sighing, he replied to the DM.  
  
 **[BadTimeWithScar]: ill talk with him tomorrow morning. Get some rest.  
** **[PhantomTek]: please and thanks**

He turned off his communicator, setting it down. He needed to do something about the pain and the scars. It burnt and _god it h u r t._ He needed something to distract him from the pain. It suddenly felt hot. Not just his scars, but the temperature. He felt dizzy. He needed to calm down. He needed to cool down. His shirt felt like it was choking him. He threw it off, but it barely helped.  
His head started to hurt.  
Badtimes stumbled into the bathroom, hand on his head. He kept his eyes shut reaching around for something, anything to ease the agony. The scarred man’s hands found a towel, soaked it in the sink then held it to his shoulder. The cool cloth eased some of his burning scars but even that wasn’t enough.   
  
“Screw it!” Badtimes yelled and dove into the shower, turning it to a very cold setting. He didn't care that he was still clothed, he just knelt there, freezing water raining down on his aching, burning body.  
“Better..” The scarred man relaxed.

* * *

Siren felt tired. She usually was tired, but this was different. Normally, she'd doodle something, but with her current resources, she could only sew and draw sticks in the ground. There was nothing to do. It was frustrating. The aetherkind healer sighed, doodling a little robot in the grey, lifeless dirt. It had only been a few hours in the Banlands, but it sure didn't feel like it. Hell, the only way she could tell the time was with the ninja's communicator.  
  
She ran a hand through her hair but stopped when she felt something strange in it. She took her hand out to see what it was, but she was surprised to see the pink and purple winged butterfly.  
  
"Oh heya Lil' buddy! I forgot you were sleeping there!" The large butterfly made a strange noise similar to a purr as it walked down her arm and rubbed its face against her cheek like a cat.   
"Awhhg you're so cute!" She put the butterfly back on her palm and scratched its large furry collar, which in return, flapped its wings and made a clicking noise.

"You like that?" This time, the butterfly made a chirping noise. She continued scratching, this time under the neck. More flapping and clicking. It felt nice, having the company of an animal as well. A butterfly with the personality of a cat and the features of a moth and butterfly. Siren held her palm up to her hair, letting the butterfly walk in circles in her hair before settling down in a ball to rest.   
  
"I think I'm going to call you..Neris. How does that sound?" A chirp responded in a way of 'Yes! it sounds amazing!'. She smiled, changing from sitting to laying down comfortably next to the sleeping ninja.   
  
"Night Neris." She pulled the large blanket over her, drifting into a wave of sleep.

* * *

**You screamed.**

**You wanted to cut away at the seemingly endless forest for taking away all you had.**

**But with every vine cut down, it grew back.**

**Stronger.**

**You cried.  
  
The campfire was lit, but you didn't feel the warmth it had when _they_ were here.**

**The red flag of a now-disbanded group lay buried in the sand.  
  
You tried to fall asleep in the abandoned base.**

**But it just _didn't seem right_**

****

**** **You mourned.**

**You found yourself staring at the water, the reflection almost mocking you.**

**You tried to look for them one last time, but you were told it's time to go.**

**You resisted. Desperate to find them, but you were carried away as you started to tear up.  
 _"It's time to go."_**

**  
You brought the one thing left behind from him. A red bandana, tied around your shoulder.**

**  
You vented.  
You cried. You screamed. You attacked.  
** **You stood up for nights on end.  
They were concerned for you.  
** **But you needed _them_. And they needed _you_.  
You were falling apart.  
  
And you just _couldn't_ handle the _pain._**

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took forever to find a name for the Cattermoth/butterfly! ALSO credit to Jade from the discord server for helping me with writing the end of the first perspective! <3 
> 
> update: its 3 am and I added the final perspective!


	6. Prologue (6)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An announcement of the end of the season followed by a not-so-good decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of self-harm warning. If you feel uncomfortable with it, stop at "Iskall was panicking when he saw his friend's body that was sitting on him now blinking with red and reaching a feverish state." and continue at "He pat his friend's back, trying his best to soothe the stressed and shakey man down."

**[Calendar: April 8th, 2017. Note: wake up!! say goodbye to season 4!!! stop sleeping in!!! this is your last chance you cyborg idiot!!!! meet xisuma in the middle of the shopping district!!!]**  
  
His communicator buzzed violently with the notification, but he awoke slowly and lazily. The cyborg didn't want to move around to get it, so he felt around with his right hand, clumsily drifting it over the bedside table to find the rectangular device, but he felt something against his arm as he knocked his sword that sat by his bed over with a clang.  
  
"Stupid fucking- hnngh" He rubbed his eyes with his other hand once his hand felt over the buzzing device. He read the note that blinked on the device. Shit. He overslept again. Iskall shot up, quickly putting on his tank top and a random hoodie with the cropped vest, swapping out his ripped navy jeans for a pair of shorts. He clipped his elytra hastily, flying out the door and spamming rockets to the shopping district with a whoosh.  
  
His communicator buzzed violently again, but this time he knew it was a private message. That can wait for now. He needed to meet in the center of the shopping district, the other hermits were waiting for him.  
  
Landing in the circle of hermits, Iskall stumbled and accidentally falling over and getting mud in his mouth.  
  
"Blegh." Xisuma sighed at the clumsy man, resting his hands on the podium. "Slept in again, Iskall?" The other redstoner nodded with a yawn.  
  
Why didn't X start the meeting yet?  
  
"Now we're just waiting for Scar." The admin said, checking his communicator, which prompted the cyborg to check his communicator, the hermits around him sparking up some conversation.  
  
"Hey Iskall, what happened to your usual outfit?" Ren leaned towards him.  
  
"Also your eye too, why is it red? It keeps shifting around and it looks really odd.." His mustached friend stared at his eye like it was magic.  
  
"What do you mean? It's perfectly fine! And my outfit, I just was in a rush to get something on." He shrugged it off, but now that Mumbo mentioned it, his eye _did_ feel odd. Very odd. His communicator buzzed violently again. Iskall mumbled something under his breath, taking the violently buzzing communicator out of his pocket. Private messages were on the screen from someone he had never met.  
  
**[Eskall87]: I know you don't know me**  
 **[Eskall87]: but bear with me here.**  
 **[Eskall87]: I'm you. but a different you.**  
 **[Eskall87]: I need help**  
 **[Eskall87]: when you leave the world tonight and end up at the waiting world, please go into the nether portal and go 50 km north.**  
 **[Eskall87]: bring the blue hoodie and uncropped black vest in your closet as well. dont forget to bring a few flowers.**  
 **[Eskall87]: please  
  
[iskall85]: ?  
[iskall85]: ok  
[iskall85]: anything to help a bro out I guess**

"Uhg, sorry I'm late. I had to get Jellie to stop chasing the dogs from the forest. Scratched me pretty bad." Scar landed on the mesa ground, rubbing at the deep scratches left behind from his cat. Iskall put his communicator away as the awaited hermit brushed off some red sand.  
  
"Welcome Scar. That's the last of us here, so now I can hold the announcement. The end of season 4 is today, which means we have to pack our clothes and pets up and say goodbye. Hopefully, all of us can join back for season 5 for the 1.12 update that The Code will offer us. Pack up your shops, walk down memory lane, and throw one last party tonight. At dawn, we will be in the waiting world as our new world loads. This time we're doing something a little bit different though- Instead of letting villagers roam this server once we're in season 5, we're letting Aetherkind and Voidkind take care of the world. They are not able to destroy things, they just will live in here. Got it?"   
  
The hermits in the large circle exchanged some whispers before they all looked at their admin and nodded.   
  
"That being said, there will be two new hermits. Stressmonster and Zedaph. You've seen what they look like, and I reveal the names." Xisuma sat down on the podium. "Any more questions can come to me. I'm going to go pack up now." He walked away as the hermits chatted, some walking to their base alone, some walking together talking  
  
"I wanna focus on my redstone next season, specifically things like prosthetics and traps and things to help with vision. Stuff like that." Beef talked to Mumbo about prosthetics and redstone and the complexity of it, which Mumbo said it would be very hard without someone else.  
  
Iskall was walking away towards his mineshaft with Ren when he saw Scar towards the corner of his eye, climbing onto a tall and large tree where it was impossible to see him from the other hermits perspective below, and taking off his jacket, revealing his arms that have scars peeking out from his T-shirt like a snake. A newly formed cut on his right forearm and dark bruises on his neck caught his eye. The cyborg stopped as Ren was talking about bringing so many dogs into season 5, going on and on before realizing Iskall stopped a bit behind him.  
  
"Why are you staring at a tree?" The dog man stood next to the cyborg, who was now turning around.

"I wasn't staring at a tree, I saw Scar and his scars, one was seemingly new." He cupped his mouth with a hand.   
  
"Oh yeah, I see him- Uh oh."

"What? Did he see you?"  
  
"No. He just injected himself with a vial of Instant Harming II and two other potions. And now he's falling- we can't catch him if we spammed our rockets, so don't even try-"  
  
And then Iskall was barreling towards the falling terraformer, spamming his rockets and ready to catch him. A branch ripped off a piece of his shining Iskallium elytra, but he didn't care. He gave it one more rocket.  
He caught Scar in his arms, wrapping his elytra around him as they dove to the ground and rolled in the dirt and sand of the mesa. Iskall felt thorns of dead bushes cut deeply into him. He cursed under his breath as they landed against the base of a steep plateau. Iskall unwrapped his wings from Scar, who was slipping in and out of consciousness. He tried to move his leg, but something cracked and it left him in excruciating pain, which left him gasping for breath.   
  
"Scar? Scar? Scar what did you just try to do just now?!" Iskall was panicking when he saw his friend's body that was sitting on him now blinking with red and reaching a feverish state.   
  
"I..." He coughed into his elbow, sinking into Iskall's hoodie. "M'don't wanna talk about it." He coughed again, which Iskall could see blood on his elbow. The red glow on his friend stopped as he started to scratch deeply into his forearms, a bit of blood emerging.   
"Uh dude, you're bleeding."  
"Mmhm?"   
"Dude are you-" Iskall's eyes filled with worry as his friend gave him a nod.  
"Don't tell X. _Please._ " Scar turned his head behind him, looking back at the man he was sitting on with a desperate face. "I'm not suicidal, I just..I don't know what I'm doing and I've been under a _l- lot_ of stress and I _\- I don't know how to deal with it and I- I cut myself-_ " The terraformer under him broke into tears, curling into a ball, shaking. Iskall didn't know how to respond.   
  
"Dude, you don't have to share if you don't want to, but if you're this stressed, then maybe try talking to someone you feel comfortable with?" He pat his friend's back. "Here, you can cry into my hoodie if you want." Scar nodded, turning around and crying into his cyborg friend's shoulder. "It's okay, it's gonna be okay. You can vent to me. It's fine." He pat his friend's back, trying his best to soothe the stressed and shakey man down.   
  
Eventually, after 20 minutes, the sobbing stopped, leaving Iskall with a shaking Scar laying on him. Ren was running down the long dirt and sand road with a scared expression, who then relaxed when seeing Scar resting on top of Iskall.   
  
"Dude, you alright? You crashed pretty hard there." Ren spoke in a soft whisper, sure not to wake Scar up.   
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a broken leg and cuts on my legs. God, wearing shorts today was an idiot move." He groaned as he readjusted his other, unbroken leg.   
  
"Could you mine some iskallium from my mine and put them in the world transfer pile? I'll help you with your transfer pile when I'm done with helping Scar's pile." Ren nodded as Iskall dug for his communicator in his pocket, which had a couple of panicked messages on it from Ren from 10 minutes prior. "I'm gonna text Wels to help us up here."   
Ren carried Scar bridal-style back to Scar's base as Iskall sent Wels his coords.  
  
As Ren walked to Scar's base, Iskall tried to get up, stumbling against the sandstone. Blood dripped from his leg, creating a trail. He was doing well considering his leg's condition until he hopped a bit too strong and fell against the burning sand of the mesa. He cursed loudly, dragging his arms against the dirt and sand in an attempt to crawl. The cyborg felt his consciousness slip away as rockets were going off in the distance.

  
He needed a break. His red eye buzzed and beeped until his body went slack. _He needed a break_.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its a shorter chapter due to a time limit but yeah. 
> 
> sorry scar and iskall.


	7. Prologue (7)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two local doofuses try to break reality. End up getting the attention of an admin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a better and not angsty chapter. here u go, I worked hard on it for you guys.

  
"1, 2, 3-"   
  
"Let's goo!!!"   
  
"wAIT I DI _DN'T SAY I WAS READY-"  
  
_Too late. The duo was already flying in the void-like sky like a speeding bullet, one half was screaming and the other half was flying.  
  
The ninja screamed, holding on for life's sake onto the speeding Aetherkind. They were quickly approaching the void ceiling, a trail of dim light trailing the flight path.  
  
"READY?" The healer yelled over the sound of the wind (In the banlands?). The ninja gulped before focusing his magic through both he and Siren.   
  
The ceiling was close now. Siren covered the ninja and her in an aura that felt strong.  
  
"NOW!"   
He put everything he had into the teleportation, cracking his communicator to let a bit of admin magic out.  
A large crackle of energy surrounded them as they felt a void cover over them.   
  
_This isn't what happens when I teleport-_

Something fresh dawned over them as the two landed on each other on a cold, stone rock.

_Ow.._  
  
A man who was wrapping bandages around someone else's arms was staring at them, bewildered.  
  
"Who are you?" The dogman in front of them paused on wrapping bandages.  
  
"Uhh-" The ninja looked at Siren, who was about to answer. He needed to focus his magic so they wouldn't be banned again.  
  
"Siren. Please, if we go soon, unban us-"  
  
And then they disappeared. Just like that.  
  
The crackle of energy was felt again as the void surrounded the two, this time something felt like daggers into their backs.  
  
Something cold surrounded them as they fell into the ditch they were in last night, landing with a grunt. The ninja was coming to his senses over what just happened in the past 30 seconds as he began to stress out.   
  
"Oh no..Siren, I'm so sorry- I thought I could keep the barrier open for longer. I'm so sorry-" He began to curl into himself, shaking.  
  
"Bro- that was amazing! Don't be sorry, we're lucky that I even got to say _something_ to that guy!" She tackled him with a hug. "Don't beat yourself up for what you didn't do, appreciate yourself for what you accomplished. You realize that we managed to even get a message?"  
  
"I- I guess. What do we do now? I used up all of my teleportation for the day."   
  
"We wait, I guess. We can pass the time with teaching you how to sew, How about that? This place is abundant in jacket and blanket materials. She picked up her needles that were made out of shed scales. 

"I think that would help. Where's Neris?" He looked around, no trace of the Cattermoth until it heard its name, peeking its head out of Siren's jacket. "Oh well aren't you a strong butterfly." The Cattermoth clicked, asking for scratches, which it respectfully got from the ninja.  
"Siren, did you notice that Neris nearly doubled in size from last night?"  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah, Neris, show her how much you grew!" Neris walked down Siren's arm and sat on the back of her left hand, showing off its growth.   
"Neris certainly has grown!" She pet the Cattermoth on the neck fluff, who flapped its wings in response.   
The Cattermoth was now able to be held in her hand like a kitten.  
  
After some time chatting and scratching Neris, the two's chatter died down as they waited for something to happen. The ninja's communicator was unable to send messages due to being in the Banlands, but he could still check the time and all.   
  
  
His communicator buzzed.

* * *

  
Ren couldn't really grasp what just happened. A ninja and an Aetherkind just crashed in front of him and Scar so suddenly and left just as quickly as they came, with only an incomplete sentence to give him on what was happening.   
  
"If we go soon, unban us." He muttered to himself. What did that mean? He broke a bag that contained a healing potion on it, pouring it on Scar's legs with his pant legs rolled up to his knees. The scarred man in front of him winced in pain as it seeped into his skin. Where did he get these kinds of scars?  
  
Then something clicked in his thoughts.  
  
Siren. That Siren.

She banned herself.

On accident.   
  
Ren facepalmed, whipping out his communicator and texting X quickly.  
  
 **[Renthedog]: X. Come to scar's base. Right now.  
** **[Renthedog]: this is kinda urgent. bring the side logs.  
[Xisuma]: on my way**

Ren finished healing Scar up when he heard the whoosh of rockets overhead and the admin landing beside him.  
  
"Is this about Scar?" The admin looked at the man laying down on the bed beside him.  
  
"No. Check the logs right now because something just happened that wasn't supposed to." X pulled open the side logs and read the most recent bars.  
  
"Oh my- Raised magic levels around this area two minutes ago. Were you around for it?" X looked up from the logs, to see Ren nod with a sigh.

"It was some Aetherkind and a ninja. The only thing they said when I asked who they were was the Aetherkind saying 'Siren. Please if we go soon, unban us'. She had large wings, brown short puffy hair, horns, purple skin, and glasses. The ninja had medium white hair, red eyes, and was wearing a red flannel jacket."  
  
"Oh my god. Ren, that was _Siren._ _The Siren who banned herself yesterday_." Ren sighed as the Voidkind talked.  
  
"How did you figure out she banned herself?" Ren poked his head up.  
  
"I had to look deep into the code to find the player source. The energy readings read high energy levels coming from her to her." He put the logs away, sighing. "I need to find that other person's name though."  
  
"Hmm..maybe try looking through people who have communicators in the Banlands? And do a private emergency message?"   
  
"Maybe.." X sat on the nearby rock, thinking of ways to get in contact with both of them.  
  
_Or he could just do a radar check.  
  
_ "Oh my god, I am such a derp. Radar checks are still a thing." X rubbed at the visor of his helmet. "I'm going to go prepare for that now. See you later Ren." He instantly zoomed off, flying in the distance. Ren smiled.   
  
He could hear Scar groan from the bed as he tried to pick off his bandages. "Scar, no. Don't pick them off. Don't pick them off." He walked over to his friend, setting his arms down gently.   
  
"I need Jellie..." The scarred friend whispered, a tear in his eyes.

* * *

  
X spend the next 30 minutes setting up the systems for a radar check. These things haven't been done or updated in forever, so it took a while to set up. Once he finally got everything set in place, the Voidkind took out his communicator which instantly linked up to it. After some admin confirmation, he was able to use it.  
  
The screen asked for a dimension he wanted to search for, which he selected the Banlands.  
  
Then it asked for a name. He typed in DoctorSiren, hoping for a result nearby.  
 **[2 results within a 10-meter radius; Connected to DoctorSiren's communicator. Would you like to show?]  
  
** He clicked show  
**[DoctorSiren; Unavailable.]**  
 **[This person has no name, but you can still contact them. Would you like to?]**  
  
He clicked yes. A messaging screen popped up, waiting for him to type in something. Lines of code had been filling through the background.  
  
He began typing.  
  
  
 **[Xisuma]: Hello, I was informed by one of my players that you and Siren have managed to temporarily unban yourselves and end back up in our world asking to be unbanned. I see that you and Siren have entered the Banlands accidentally from the logs, so I am offering to unban you two. You can reply to this message.**  
  
 **[Unknown is typing...]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> consider this as a sorry for the previous chapter because hghdgbjd


	8. Prologue (8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recovered and reversed.

The ninja looked at the message that blinked on his communicator.   
**[3:40 PM, April 8th.]**

**[Xisuma]: Hello, I was informed by one of my players that you and Siren have managed to temporarily unban yourselves and end back up in our world asking to be unbanned. I see that you and Siren have entered the Banlands accidentally from the logs, so I am offering to unban you two. You can reply to this message.**

Who was Xisuma? He typed in a few messages before deleting them. He sighed.  
  
"Siren, an admin got in contact with us."

"Who?"

"A guy named Xisuma-"

"Give me the communicator." She sounded a bit harsh, so he reluctantly gave it to the Aetherkind, scooting closer to her side as she typed.

  
**[Unknown]: Hello X. Siren here, we'd love to be unbanned and all, but please, please do not bring us to the Aether right now. it is dangerous there. If you and the hermits are going onto another season, please bring us with you. It's safer there for us than here.**

  
**[Xisuma]: Will do. What's wrong with the Aether?**

**[Unknown]: A group of people brought the midland down. I couldn't find a single aetherkind alive on the midland. It was filled with vex and few people on the upperland are alive. They dont seem to notice the lowerland yet, but I haven't found any otherworld aetherkind.**

**[Unknown]: You might have to cut off the aether to the hermits. its for the best.**

**[Xisuma]: Do you know the name of one of the people that brought it down?**

**[Unknown]: The vex were whispering something in their language, but I caught onto a couple of names, Badtimes and Cubvex.**

**[Xisuma]: I will look into it. You and the ninja are going to be unbanned right now, so best if you two grab your communicators now.**

**[Unknown]: Alright, thank you**.

  
Siren shoved the communicator back in the ninja's hands.

"Hold on tight to it. Don't let any more admin magic crack from it." The ninja nodded, pulling his mask up and squeezing his communicator.

  
Siren took the cattermoth out of her pocket, which responded with clicking for disturbing its rest. Siren quickly input an entity connection to her communicator, tapped the closest mob. It loaded only until 99%.  
  
"Cmon, cmon load." Adrenaline rushed through her as she felt a void feeling around her body.  
  
**[Loading, 99%.]  
[Loading, 99%.]  
  
  
**A crackle of energy appeared around the ninja as he gave her a thumbs-up with a big blanket in hand before disappearing with it.   
  
**[Loaded! Entity 9014 (Banlands) successfully added to Communicator Entity Connection!]  
  
  
**A burst of energy appeared around the Aetherkind and Cattermoth as they felt the void feeling surround them before disappearing.

* * *

  
Eskall had punched another hole in the wall, but instead of wood, it was hard stone. And it hurt.  
Earlier, he tried to defend himself when a blaze shot at him with his elbow. Now it was burnt and broken.  
He scratched his thigh again. It hurt.  
He cursed as he threw open the cabinets in the bathroom, looking for _something_ to ease the pain. He dug through his pockets for his communicator, closing out of his private chat with his clone and typing with one hand.  
  
**[Eskall87]: somrone  
[Eskall87]: someone please come over  
[Eskall87]: broken had, hurts and no hea;ing thing  
[Eskall87]: elbow byrnt  
[Eskall87]: quick  
  
**He closed out of it, stumbling to the couch. It hurt. It hurt so goddamn much. He tried to ignore it, but he just ended up scratching his thigh again. He tried to reach for a pillow, but his arm just didn't allow him to. Something smelled off, but he didn't care. He needed it to stop hurting. The smell grew stronger as his arm went limp. At this point, he didn't care. He just wanted to be unconscious. He didn't want to deal with this.   
  
Something burnt on his arm. He didn't care. He was tired. He rolled over as his ears rang, noises blurred into each other.  
  
Shouts could be heard as he started to blackout. Something leaked from his arm. But he didn't care.  
  
His brain started to lose its senses, embracing the warm feeling of unconsciousness.  
  
A nice warm void to fill the stressful moment.  
  
  


* * *

Iskall awoke quickly, beads of sweat dripping from his hair, the sun peeking from the mesa plateaus, and hitting Iskall's eye. Iskall took his communicator out to check the time.  
  
"Ugh, how long was I out for?" He sat up, looking at the screen.  
  
**[5:14 PM, April 8th.]  
  
  
** "..."  
"SHIT."  
  
The cyborg stood up and ran, but he didn't make it far before collapsing on the scorching sand of the mesa, pain shooting through his right foot. He cursed, looking back at his communicator's messages before realizing that he didn't send a message on asking to be picked up. The man slowly typed in a few messages with one hand before laying down on the sand.   
  
**[Iskall85]: someone  
[Iskall85]: mesa near my mineshaft.  
[Iskall85]: injured. cnat get up.  
[Welsknight]: on my way.   
  
**Iskall sighed, turning off his communicator. Just a little bit longer. He had to wait. Rockets whooshed in the distance as a pair of shining, metallic wings descended from the sky. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the figure with armor on.  
  
The armored man landed in front of him, healing potions in hand.  
  
"My oh my, Iskall. What have you done?" Wels unclipped a potion, uncorking it and pouring it on his wound. It stung.   
"I saw Scar falling without an elytra from a tall tree, so I dove for him..Broke my leg because I was going so fast and we crashed into the giant rocks. I think a sharp rock found a way in my leg." Iskall winced as the liquid found itself in his wounds.  
"You're so reckless. You realize that?" Wels took out some bandages from his inventory and wrapped it around the cyborg's leg, the man below him nodded.  
"I think I'm gonna need help transferring my things. I promised that I would help with Scar's pile as well." Iskall rubbed some dirt out of the way of the bandages. "Could ya help with mine?"   
Wels nodded to the question, taping the end of the bandages.   
"All done, healed up enough you can at least limp." Wels got up, holding his hand out for Iskall, who grabbed on his hand and pulling himself up.   
  
They slowly made their way to Iskall's mineshaft, a special ender chest had spawned outside of the entrance, opening itself. Iskall pointed Wels to where the mineshaft was, Wels heading to them while the cyborg opened up his closet and piling his shirts and pants in a bin, throwing it in the chest.   
  
He moved onto his hoodies. 2 blue hoodies (One of them he was wearing), his military hoodie, and 2 plain, iskallium colored hoodies. He took off his current hoodie and threw it in a pile, limped over to the back of his closet and took off the clothing hangers and held them in one hand while he limped back to the pile and painstakingly bent over to grab the hoodie on the ground and hopped back to the ender chest. A few crystals of iskallium were already in the ender chest.  
  
  
After a few minutes, the knight exited the mineshaft, the glow of iskallium stained on his armor and skin. He put a pile of iskallium in the ender chest before turning to Iskall, who was sitting on a log  
  
"That's all the iskallium you need?" He wiped some green dust off of his hands. Iskall nodded, clicking a button on the ender chest, which then made a vwoop noise and teleporting to the waiting world pile. 

"You went through some stuff already. I can take care of Scar's pile." Wels pat Iskall's shoulder. "You going to the party tonight?"   
  
"Yeah, but I think I'm gonna drink less than usual because of my leg." Iskall replied, clipping his elytra on. "I think I'm good enough to fly now."  
  
"That's good. I'm gonna go help Scar now. See you later!" Wels ran off, flapping his elytra and flying off. The cyborg smiled, getting up and run-hopping before flapping his iskallium elytra, spamming a few rockets.   
  
Flying felt so good after laying on hot sand for hours, the breeze hitting his face, but the fresh breeze wouldn't last for long as his destination wasn't as cool as the overworld.  
  
The nether was not a pleasant place for someone with a mechanical eye.  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was posted late because of some issues I had.  
> Sorry about the last perspective, it was pretty rushed.


	9. Prologue (9)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a break from Redstone Soda's prologue to tell you about the Aetherkind species! And the ninjas' lore and story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be one of the longer chapters, so hold on tight!

  
  
Hiya! I know you want to know what happens next in this story, but Aetherkind is still a species and they still need context and info! So for any artists reading this that wants to draw Aetherkind, then read this chapter! Narrated by yours truly, PhantomTek.  


The Aether is the sky dimension made up of many islands, big and small. It's opposite to the Netherkind, but a cousin to Voidkind and Netherkind either way. Aetherkind is similar to Voidkind, but a contrast to them and look more like angels or can be misidentified as a species of Netherkind (I'll get into them later, but not on this part :[ ).

The Aether is the size of a continent and divided into 3 parts with different cultures. All Aetherkind have some sort of wings and tail, but they vary between from which part of the Aether they were born in.

The Airland/Upperland Aetherkind.

They have the second biggest wings of Aetherkind, with a wingspan of up to 30 feet long and wings usually similar to those of a bird or fins of a fish. They fly the fastest and their culture praises the jelly leaf trees that are native to there, for rumor has it they are ancient sleeping wyvern gods that have protected the Aether from the ferocious wrath of a big angry First Being that wanted to tear the dimension down, which after protecting the Aether, the people cheered as they went to sleep on the tall, tall wood.

It is highly illegal amongst the Upperlanders to cut down a single one of those trees, so materials have evolved to jellie bushes, stone, wood from the Nether, and clouds seeming to be made of jelly that are very thick (Thick enough to cut down and crush your grandma with. Also they are weightless in the sky but the second they are cut through, their actual weight sets in and they fall) and are barely see-through. The Upperlanders have markings on their backs that resemble a wyvern. Their skin is usually tan to black as their climate is very warm, but sometimes they can be a light purple or a Piglin's pink. They have a tail that is wide and webbed at the end to keep balance when flying. They are the tallest of the Aetherkind, ranging from 6 to 12 feet tall.

The Midland/Old world Aetherkind. 

Their wings are also pretty big, but not as big as the Airlanders, wingspans averaging 20 feet long with the appearance of a fish's fins, wavy and elegant with a mix of fur on the back. Midlanders can grow up to 7 wings as the Midland is the stormiest, and they have evolved their wings to be thick even if they flow like they're made of silk (For protection against the wind).  
  
Their culture revolves around the vast void that seems to never end below the Aether. The Midland is known as the oldest part of the Aether, over a million years old, and believed to be held up by the strength of the Jelly clouds. Religion there is also focused on praising the air god, Aivithro, said to keep the world together with the many storms that are passing through. The Midland also has the most languages and is the most diverse part of the Aether with most Aetherkind living there.  
  
Their tails are long and wide, like those of a bird, but with feathers, webs, and fins on it. Skin colors of almost any kind can come from here. They are average human height (5-6 feet tall).  


The Lowerland/ Otherworld Aetherkind.

They have been discovered only 50 years ago, and very mysterious as it is very dangerous for some Aetherkind, but anyways, they have a wingspan that is averaging from 15 to 35 feet long and a large, feathery tail, the Lowerlanders have barely any religion.

Upperlanders who have been to the lowerland claim to see them walking in and out of glowing portals with weird particles in it, like a window to a word with no voidless ground, thus gaining the title of the Otherworld Aetherkind.

The lowerland is very hard to get to, as it is very far below the Midland and few have managed to get there without being caught up in the many wind drafts and storms.

Many lowerlanders have come up and down and settled to the main horizons, and they can freely go down to the lowerland with their portal magic and their strong wings. Their skin colors have only been observed as pale white, or those of a pale human. Lowerlanders can hide their wings and tail with some force of unknown magic that seems to have been around for a while. Any attempt at trying to find out how they get their magic and how they originated has been unsuccessful so far.

Their hair can only be seen as pale or pastel colors, as the lowerland is way colder than the first two lands. Eye colors have been noted as either red, blue, yellow, or black.

Now from the previous parts of this story, there's always been mentions of ninjas living in the Aether, which is true. I will talk about them in the next part, so please dong leave yet. ~~also please don't mind that I kept switching up the names of the aetherkind species~~

The ninjas.  
  
They have originally come from the Deep End as Shadowling Voidkind, wandering through an Otherworlder's portal that was left open, curious about why it was so bright. I won't give a Voidkind species information page yet, so here's a short summary of Shadowling Voidkind:  
  
Shadowling Voidkind (wow I don't like writing it like that I'm just going to write it as Shadowlings from not on. Okay? Okay.) have no bodies, and they are literal forms of mist shadows and the only physical parts of them are their long, clawed hands and their flowy, jello-like wings. They have an ability to shadow walk (Enter a shadow and exit out of another shadow that's nearby). Anyways, they're seen as peasants and the First Beings are constantly treating them like flies that do the work (And somehow the Shadowlings are fine with it???). They are genderless and cannot reproduce.  
  
Anyhoo, this group of Shadowlings was different. The void had spat em out only 10 years ago as hybrids between a simple Voidkind and a Shadowling, so they had a half physical form and they had genders (Simple Voidkind have genders and physical forms), but they still didn't have a Voidling form (Like a strong, animal-like form that has some sort of elemental thing as a theme for it.). These Shadowlings could breathe fresh air and not suffocate, they could walk on land, but they didn't have tails or wings or horns. Nothing like that. They could teleport to random places though, but only a few times before they ran out of energy.  
  
_Anyways,_ The group of misfit Shadowlings had walked into the glowing yellow portal with a blue magic gateway, expecting more deep void or the light void, but no, it was bright, so bright that they had to squint. Some looks of confusion were on the people around them who were going about their day but they stopped in their tracks, staring at the group of misfits before one had walked up to them and asked something in galactic. (For the sake of you and me, I'm going to write this in English because translating galactic hurts me), their conversation went like something this:  
  
"Who are you and why are you here?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I asked, who are you, and why are you here?"  
  
Another misfit from the group spoke up: "We saw a big bright portal, and it lead us to here. We want to run away from the First Beings that tortured us. We never belonged there, in the Deep End."  
  
Another voice spoke from another misfit: "Please don't put us back there. We can't handle them. We're constantly treated like pests, not like Shadowlings and not like the Voidkind"  
  
  
The otherworld aetherkind around them started to murmur, and some were considering throwing them back in the End before a very tall Aetherkind had walked up to the group of misfits, saying:   
  
"We will accept you here, but _any_ destruction of property will result in being thrown back to the End. I know a man who could raise you all under his wings, strengthen you all up. If there's any discrimination from the locals here-" The tall, muscular tanned man with white hair in a short ponytail knelt to them before patting one of their heads. "I can look after all 12 of you as a dad, a safe spot away from _them_. Seems like a deal?" He smiled at the misfits before they whispered to each other, nodding.  
  
"We accept." The one in front said, confidently and bravely, white eyes fearless.  
  
"Good. Now, follow me to my house, you'll find it much better than what you could have been living in." He stood up, walking away with his head turned around. "My name's Tristan, the people around here call me Chroma. Now, cmon my children, we have a house to claim!"   
The misfits followed their new dad into a fairly medium-large home that had 7 rooms for the young Shadowlings, each room with 2 beds that were very comfortable. They started to pack some things in their rooms, taking a break to have a snack and then returning to a room that felt so perfect for them. They were going to make it their home.  
  
  
  
The Shadowlings trained and trained with a man named Rook, learning how to defend with their powers and abilities and how to attack. Every day was like an adventure for the misfits as they learned techniques on fighting and running and dodging, running around the town catching chickens, helping the locals.   
  
After a matter of years, the town accepted the Shadowlings as their own, offering them gifts for helping their needs. The brave little misfit that accepted Tristan's offer on adoption grew and grew, training harder and harder each day while still seeming like that brave little curious 10-year-old Shadowling hybrid. The boy and his family-friends met some Aetherkind that had fallen down to their town after stumbling off of the midland, who became the misfits' new best friends. They became fast and stealthy, teleporting around and helping the locals, who called them ninjas.  
  
He found a boy his age who wore shining diamond armor, had a bluish tone to his skin, and had 3 large, thick blue scaley wings and a bright bluebird tail that shined even when the light was partially blocked, a bright smile implanted on his face, who gave him a halo upon crashing into him.   
  
"My name's Skep! I'm from the midland!" The winged one said, handing him a golden halo that floated above the ninja when he put it on. "It fits you perfectly!"  
  
"I'm Saint! The locals call me Muffin and Badboy though." The hybrid shook Skep's hand as they started telling stuff about themselves and their stories. Skep told him how his parents moved on to another world, leaving him here to adventure the Aether and make friends, to find a friend to spend time with and to have amazing memories together. Saint told him his story, and how he's been training with his fellow hybrids since they got adopted.  
  
In the evening, Saint returned home while his fellow misfits were eating dinner.   
  
"Saint! I've been worried about you, where have you been?" Tristan wrapped his large arms around his son into a hug, who hugged him back. "And where did you find that halo too?"  
  
"Don't worry about it Dad, I made a new friend today! His name's Skep and he had nowhere to go, is it okay if he stays here with us?" The shadowling teleported out of the hug to Skep, who was peeking his head from around the corner.  
  
"Of course! Any friend of my sons is a friend of mine! Nice to meet ya Skep! Could I get you somethin' to eat?" He hugged the 3 winged Midlander, who returned the favor.  
  
"I..wow..you're so kind- Could I just get some cereal?" He stepped from the hug, rubbing his shoulders.  
  
"Of course! Which type?" The large Aetherkind chief walked to the kitchen and opened the pantry, looking at the selection of cereal.  
  
"Do you have anything like Cocoa Pebbles?" Skep walked next to the chief, who was already pulling out a box of it.   
  
"Go ahead and talk with Saint for a bit." He poured the cereal in a bowl, adding milk on top and putting a spoon in, handing it to Skep. "He'd love to show you around." The chief smiled as Skep ran upstairs with Saint on all fours, Skep carrying the cereal with his wings, the two talking excitedly.   
  


In human years, being 25 was an adult age. But in Aetherkind and Voidkind years, it was equal to being 12. The dad smiled, looking at his other 11 adopted children sitting at the table, eating and chatting.  
  
He looked to his oldest child, Willow, who was like a mother for these rascal ninjas, picking them up when they fell every step of the way, helping them with their math studies and English studies, and speaking for Saint when he couldn't explain himself on that first day. Her aetherkind friend had participated in their training, and the friend learning how to teleport.   
  
Tristan was so proud of each and every one of his kids. Their ways were spreading to their friends. At first, the kids were chaotic, but now that they're toned down and more responsible, he loved them so much.  
  
  
The next day, Skep and Saint were sharing a room that once only has Saint.  
  
  
The years grew on and on, Skep's and Saint's bond was so close, they could slice through obsidian with it. The two were adventuring everywhere, Saint teaching Skep tricks that Rook taught him. Every fall they've had together was shared with laughs as they grew stronger together. Every weekend, the two would go out together and teleport to the midland, talking with a few family friends and exploring all the new things the weekly market had to offer. Once, a Upperlander teen tried to pick a fight with them, It was a hard fight, but the two had fought together.

* * *

  
  
  
Eventually, the 12 little ninjas grew to 15, then to 20, and soon, there were a lot of ninjas, the Shadowlings little group expanded to a group of Aetherkind.   
  
Eventually, the original 12 became the Clan, adding Skep in too, with Skep, Willow, and Saint leading the Clan.  
  
Eventually, Skep and Saint found a very young little Otherworld Aetherkind boy wandering the streets, lost, with ruffled dirty white hair, transparent blue butterfly wings that draped the floor along with a long feathery tail and holding onto a white mask with a simple smiley face on it, with a small word carved into the back.  
  
DREAM  
  
"I think somewone dwopped thith, can you get ith back to them?" The kid handed the mask to the Shadowling, who smiled in response.  
  
"Don't worry kid, we'll return it to its owner. In the meantime, are you lost?" The child nodded.  
  
"Do you know where your parents were?" The child nodded.  
  
"They left." The child hugged onto Saint's leg.  
  
"Hey, hey it's okay. Do you want us to return you to your parents?" The child shook his head, hugging harder onto Saint's leg.   
  
"I down't want them neaw me." The child looked up at the Shadowling, who only smiled.  
  
"I'll tell you what, kid. You're brave, do you want a muffin while we find out what to do with you?"  
  
The kid nodded.   
  
Skep and Saint looked at each other and exchanged a nod.   
  
"Hey, guess what little boy? If you want to, you can join us and become a ninja! Just like us!" Skep knelt down to the child's height, looking him in the eyes with a smile plastered on his face. The child stopped hugging so tightly to Saint as his eyes lit up with excitement.  
  
"I want to be a ninja!" The child teleported to Skep's legs and hugging them, knocking the Midlander over as he laughed.   
  
"Alright alright, but there will be learning to it as well!" The blue man ruffled the kid's white hair. Saint sat next to Skep, mask still in hand.  
  
"We should tell Pop about this, right? " Skep whispered to him.  
  
"Absolutely. How does a kid know how to teleport like this?"   
  
And so, they brought the child in, who was filled with energy, ready to be a ninja. He trained and trained with another young Aetherkind named Caleb, who was also pumping with energy.

* * *

  
  
The ninjas had found a man with a green cloak and a dark green hoodie with black pants in the upper lands, dueling with a pigman with a royal cloak and a crown on top.   
  
"Is this dream?" Saint peeked his head from beside the fence, watching the two men clash swords until they stopped, the one with the green cloak turned to look at the hybrid.   
  
"Yeah, what do you want, Halo?" He set his diamond sword on his hip, crossing his arms.  
  
"Your mask. A kid I'm training had found it." The hybrid pulled a mask from his backpack and handed it to the man in front of him.  
  
"Oh, thanks. I didn't even realize I dropped it." The aetherkind put it on, readjusting the strap.   
  
"You're welcome." The hybrid teleported back to his town, a baked chocolate chip muffin was in his hand.

* * *

  
  
"Guess who's home!"  
  
"Uncle Hawo!" The tiny ninja ran to him, dropping the stick he was fighting Caleb with. The Shadowling smiled, reminding him of when he first had gotten here.   
  
"I brought a muffin! Just for you!" The Shadowling knelt down and gave the muffin to the small kid. "It has chocolate chips! Your favorite!"   
  
"Yummie!" The kid bit straight into the muffin, not even caring for the paper wrapping before spitting the paper out. "It tasthes so good!" The kid took the muffin from Saint and hugged the larger ninja the best he could without dropping the delicious muffin.  
  
"And guess what, little Aeth?"   
  
"What?" 

"You get to practice your teleporting starting tomorrow! It's gonna be a fun obstacle course!"   
  
"Yaay!! Awsthicle courthe! Did you hear that Caleb? Uncle Hawo says I can do an awsthicle courthe!!" The tiny ninja hugged his tiny friend.  
  
"Not just you, Aeth, but also Caleb! You both are strong little ninjas!" Saint pulled both of the kids into a big hug, who were both cheering with of joy..

* * *

  
Aeth struggle to keep up with Uncle Halo, who was way faster than him. The teenage ninja pushed himself around the logs, above the rocks, climbing the wall, teleporting ahead. Caleb was behind him, also struggling but keeping at a good pace.   
  
"Rule number 4! Keep your eyes on the target!" Uncle Skep called, flying above. "If you lose focus, you won't be able to work as well! You need to focus on the opponent _and_ your stamina!"  
  
Aeth teleported again, trying to keep up with his hybrid uncle, but he was so fast.   
  
"Aeth! You need to focus on the road, not me!" Halo called out, teleporting ahead as well.   
  
"I'm trying! How are you holding up, Caleb?"  
  
"I'm fine, just getting tired." He gave a thumbs-up, teleporting above the rock wall.  
  
Aeth was almost at the end of the lap, just one more teleport-  
  
"Kid! Don't teleport too much!" The Shadowling called, but Aetho was already tumbling down the line, grunting. "You muffin." Saint stood at his side, rubbing his temples. "You realize that over-exerting your teleportation will lead to a random teleport? Which is dangerous! We don't want you getting hurt kid." Skep landed by Saint's side nodding.  
  
"Ugh, this hurts- and yeah, I know I know, I just wanted to push my limits again." The teen ninja stood up, ruffling some dirt out of his messy hair that was only partially being contained by a headband with silver plating on the front.   
  
"Aeth, no. We get that you want to train hard, but we aren't the ones you should be pushing yourself around, even if it's for the better, it's dangerous to push your teleportation to these levels. If you want to push yourself, go to Rook or Tristan, they're safer." Saint pulled some bugs out of Aeth's hair while talking. "I think that's enough training for now, Caleb, Skep, you okay with that?"   
  
"Yeah! We're fine!" Skep carried a tired Caleb on his back while he flew in the air. "I'm gonna fly he and I back to the house!" Skep replied to himself, flying away.  
  
"Alright." Saint looked at Aeth and put a hand to his back as they both teleported back to the house.  
  


* * *

Tristan high fived Caleb, Skep, Saint, and Aeth as they crashed through the door and collapsed on the couch.   
  
"Rough training again?"   
  
"Mhmm." Aeth and Caleb hummed.  
  
"Well, that's good I guess, always wanna protect yourself from unknown dangers. That's what the ninja clan is for." The chief washed the dishes, wings brushing against each other.   
  
Footsteps were heard jumping down the stairs as one of the Shadowlings jumped into the kitchen, taking something from the fruit basket. "How'd training go for ya'?" Pitch bit into an apple.  
  
"Rough, Aeth kept using his teleportation, which ended up better than it could have been," Saint spoke in galactic so Aeth couldn't catch on.  
  
"I see, I see. Did you try the rune hand method?"  
  
"It didn't work for him."  
  
"Oh well..What could we do about that? More training with Rook?"  
  
"Maybe, Aeth said that he pushes himself to be stronger, which is acceptable because that's how you get stronger, but it's dangerous with teleportation as everyone knows."  
  
"Hmm. I don't know how to help you there..." Pitch walked upstairs "Good luck on your training!" At the last part, Pitch transitioned into English.  
  
"You too!" The hybrid sat on the couch with his legs pressed against the back and his back on the seat of it, throwing a rubber ball into the air and catching it repeatedly before it him in the face.  
  


* * *

The ninjas kept training and training together, working hard on their studies. Aeth was gonna go through another obstacle course later with Caleb and Skep this time, and it was gonna be a bigger course than usual. The 4 had been watching movies last night until 4 am before passing out on the couch in a tangled mess, Tristan shaking his head as he cleaned up the spilled popcorn and cheese puffs.   
  
He stretched his muscles, ready to go on the course with Caleb.   
  
"3, 2, 1..." Skep was beside them too.  
  
"GO!"   
  
The trio dashed into the woods, slipping and dodging the branches and rocks, jumping over tall jelly bushes. Some whispers were heard from the trees, Aetho could swear he heard them, but for the sake of Saint, he didn't swear. A few swords had been shot through the trees, nearly hitting Caleb.   
  
"Wow, when did you add sword and arrow shooting to this course?"  
  
"We didn't.. these aren't our traps and something is definitely watching us. We need to pause for a second." Skep flew, grabbing him and Caleb by the collars and flying to Saint as fast as he could.   
  
"Why are you all back so early? Did something happen?"   
  
"Yup. Sword traps and whispers from the bushes, and none of us had set those traps up." Skep landed, setting Caleb and Aeth on the ground.   
  
"Hmm" Saint set a sword down. "Aeth, do you wanna go inspect the mainland with me instead?"  
  
"Sure!"   
  
"Alrighty, let's go." Saint put a hand on Aeth's back as they teleported through a few small islands before ending up at the mainland's market. "What do you wanna do first? I'm pretty hungry right now."  
  
"Muffins?"  
  
"You know me well."  
  
The two walked down the street and were in the doorway of the bakery when they heard a scream from a woman behind them.   
"THE VEX ARE BACK!!"   
  
"What?! Where?" Saint turned around, a sword from his hip drawn while Aeth had his daggers unsheathed. Suddenly, many, many tiny blue ghosts with red marks started to flood the streets, Aetherkind running out of the way. Tiny diamond swords were flying through the air, blood spilled through the streets. "Get behind me Aeth. We can't get Skep or Caleb here now." Aeth nodded, shifting to a defensive position.   
  
  
A blue sword suddenly shot through the air, aimed for Saint's void head. It got closer until it made contact; then disappeared. The Shadowling had his sword out, slicing it through the mist/void of the end of his head, which made it shine.   
  
5 more swords came their way when they stepped into the street, with 2 having been dodged and 3 being struck down.   
  
"You protect the street, I'm gonna teleport the people down." Saint ran off, taking as many people as he can before teleporting to a nearby Lowerland Village.   
  
That left Aeth in the street, holding onto his daggers. A whoosh could be heard, then a snap as he saw 4 swords coming his way out of the corner of his eye. Quickly, he jumped over them, impaling the three Vex that threw them straight in the white core, making them disappear.   
  
More Vex flew at him, holding double swords. Aeth teleported behind them, daggers through the cores, ghostly bodies disentigrating in the air. Looking around, the ninja could see that there were no more Vex on the main marketstreet, so now it was time for the main street.   
  
Aeth had gone through so many Vex, he didn't want to take count. He tried to impale a certain large vex, but then it rose a wall between them, snapping his daggers in half. He had now resorted to the swords of the Vex to take out more Vex.   
  
Blood splattered on the street, both of the dark blue powder left behind and the red of Aetherkind that had been the first victims. He felt himself become tired as there were so many Vex in the street, charging for him.  
  
Then lightning cracked behind him, a lot. He looked behind to see a man in red armor, large wings that were made of void, and red eyes, face unrecognizable. This was a man that did not give off good vibes, as opposed to Uncle Halo.  
  
He ran. Ran so hard that he could tell he was running as fast as Uncle Halo, which was an achievement on its own. More lightning cracked behind him as he twisted and turned in the streets, ahead of the now-dark, blue-void bull with lightning coming from its eyes and a trail of fire behind it.   
  
  
You've read this chase twice before, so I'm just going to skip to when he teleports again.  
  
  
Aeth threw the bull a taunting face before vanishing with a teleport, the bull stopped and was left confused, changing back to his normal Voidkind form before sighing, checking his communicator, and leaving with a flash of lightning behind.  
  
Saint had returned from his latest rescue, teleporting to where the lightning cracked. His small antennae picked up something that he knew quite well. Teleportation. Aeth's teleportaion. His eyes went wide as he realized what he had pushed himself with this teleport, and wild energy that cracked around it revealed that it was a random teleport that traced far away. Wings had flapped in the distance in a familiar beat. Although the Shadowling knew it was just Aetherkind, he had history with this one, so he walked into the shadows, leaving to his town.  
  
"Saint! Your back! Where's Aeth?" Skep turned to him with a smile on his face, but he could see the worry in his eyes.   
  
"He teleported far into the Aether Void." He wiped his eyes, sitting next to his best friend. "And I saw an Aetherkind die in front of me earlier. Their body didn't respawn. Someone set our dimension to hardcore, Skep. You have to get Willow to keep the rest of Clan and Caleb away from the Vex, no matter what."   
  
"And where will you and I be?"  
  
"Searching. By now, his death must have appeared on our communicators, giving us a chance-" And at that moment, their communicators had buzzed violently. "Oh no- No no no-" He didn't want to see the name flash across the screen in red. He didn't want to. He didn't want to know that his raised child had died and will never be seen again-  
  
"Saint, stop panicking. It's not him, but it's a ban and death message for the same person." Skep was looking at his communicator before his eyes were filled with dread.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Siren."  
  
"Oh no.."

* * *

And so, they began their search the next day during midday, flying through the islands, any island, that was a hope for finding Aeth. None. They hopped over to the _N_ _ether!_ (The freakin Nether! Aetherkind in the Nether!) Desperate to find a hope of finding Aeth. Nothing. The locals to the town they hopped to weren't bothered by the Shadowling or the blue Aetherkind (Who was now wearing a disguise because zombie Pigmen), as they knew that they were desperate to find Aeth, but they were regretful they couldn't help. (Which is rare for a Nether Town)  
  
They hopped over to an end city that wasn't inhabited by any First Beings, asking the Shadowlings around for directions (Who only responded with 'Get out of my territory'), until a Voidkind had noticed them searching desperately. He offered that he could help.   
  
"So, what's the name of this guy? And how old is he?" The Voidkind in front of them took out a notepad, writing down bullet notes for the features of the ninja until he spoke again.  
  
"In our overworld, one of my players saw an Aetherkind with purple wings, purple skin, brown short curly hair, and a black T-shirt with a red coat on top and a ninja with short, messy white hair, a red flannel coat, black shorts, and a black mask pulled over their mouth. Apparentley, they've been banned accidentally, so I unbanned them. If you dimension hop with me, I can lead you to them if you'd like." The man had set a white enderchest down, which made some angry squeaks in return.  
  
"Oh my goodness, you'd do that for us? Thank you so much-" Saint hugged the Voidkind in front of him, who patted him on the back.  
  
"My name's Xisuma, Admin of Hermitcraft. Nice to meet you. Call me X."  
  
Saint stepped from the hug, wiping away a tear. "My name's Saint. The ninja calls me Uncle Halo, but my town calls me Muffin or Badboy."   
  
"That's a wonderful name, and you?" He asked the 3 winged Aetherkind.   
  
"Name's Skep, also a ninja but you don't realize it." The blue man coughed, the thin air of the End was too little for him. "Also I think that I need thicker air-"  
  
"Alrighty well, I just finished packing my world transfer chest, so now's a good time to go back to the Overworld. Follow me." Xisuma clicked a button on the enderchest, which chittered before disappearing with a vwoop. He took off with a pair of pitch black wings that glowed at the ends, signaling for the duo to follow him, which they did.  
  
Skep was being carried by Saint, who was not flying as really he was drifting across the void. Many islands came to view, but there was one large island with obselisks that towered over everything, a portal in the middle. They flew in, effects of dimension hopping not quite as fluid as teleporting, and they woke up in a bed.   
  
"That's the effects that portal has on you, sorry about that!" Xisuma's wings were gone (as it should be when a simple Voidkind leaves the End), and a helmet that helped him breathe was on his head. "I know the air here is thicker than the one in the Aether and definitely the End, but I'm taking it that you haven't been to the End in a while?" He asked the other Voidkind in the room, who nodded.   
  
"I'm used to the air in the Aether now to be breathing this type of air. It feels a bit crisper though." He checked to see if Skep was awake, which luckily, he was.   
  
"What time is it?" Skep asked the other Voidkind in the room  
  
"6:04 PM, April 8th, why so?"   
  
"Where's Aeth? And Siren?"  
  
"They are resting near Rendog's base, I can give you coordinates if you want." The two nodded.   
  
"Please, we want to see him again." The duo said in unison.   
  
"Alright I'm sending you the coords, check your communicators." He pasted a set of numbers in a private chat.  
  


**-1303 / 1110**

The best friends looked at each other with a nod after looking at their communicators. 

"Let's go." Saint held a hand onto Skep's back, teleporting.

* * *

  
Now, there are more parts to this story, but I think I'm gonna let the prologue write itself. Hope you liked this! If you want someone else to write the Voidkind and Netherkind information sheet, that's sad, but I understand! Now I gotta go, Badtimes is calling me because apparently, some of the hermits are hunting for hundreds of one of the other hermit's heads, so I'll see you soon. 

Phantom, out!

(p.s: my hand hurts. I think I need one of stress's potions.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Accidentally made it a crossover. Whoops!


	10. Prologue (10)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can't we just have a nice moment?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A pretty harsh fight and brief mention of self harm. stop at "Let that bitch suffer." and continue at "The room was then filled with silence, with only the shakey breaths of Iskall, Repulse, and Phantom breaking it."

  
  
Iskall landed in the obsidian portal, the usual wave of nausea washed over him before his surroundings changed from the cool breeze of the overworld to a hot, red and orange landscape. The hot air was harsh on the cyborg's eye, and It prompted him to unclip the magnets and screws that connected it to his skin and setting it in his ender chest, as well as tying a jacket he took from his world transfer chest. He clipped an extension onto his elytra before hopping off the small obsidian platform and heading north, with not much of a plan as to where he was going, he just knew that he had to go north.  
  
Iskall knew that he was supposed to do this in the waiting world, but he just wanted to know where it would lead him in this world. A few of the other hermit's buildings passed by, a few farms too. A large, black and withered tree was in the path ahead, lava dripping down it like sap. A portal was seen just beyond it, a small sign made of the black wood hung from it. Iskall has never seen this tree before, so he was guessing that it was either another hermit's build or a build relating to him. Well, not _iskall_ , but a different iskall. Eskall. It sounded familiar, but that was probably because it was so similar.  
  
The cyborg flew to the branch the sign hung from, lifting the sign to read what it said.  
  
**HELLSCAPE NETHER RIGHT AHEAD. ROBOTS AND CYBORGS TAKE OFF MECHANICAL PARTS BEFORE ENTERING.**

Well, he was glad he already took off his eye when entering the nether. He dropped the sign, hopping around to face what was behind the sign. A big blast of hot air whooshed by him, followed by a cold blast of air.   
  
He shivered, rubbing at his bare arms before spreading his elytra and gliding along with the air that kept him up. Occasional wind drafts blew in his face, which blew him back a bit.  
  
He flapped the automatic elytra as a bunch of buildings appeared in his vision, one of them that was straight in the middle was a fairly large cabin that was detailed beautifully, nether plants growing around it. The hill the cabin was rested on was beautifully terraformed, blue and purple vines wrapping around trees. A soft, purple glow was the only light source around the hill, which made Iskall realize that there weren't the usual pools of lava that blanketed the Nether floor. This dark, unexplored area of the Nether was apparently already inhabited by what Iskall could guess as around 15 to 20 people.  
  
A platform was laid at the bottom of the hill, a few signs were laid across it on a board. Iskall landed on the platform, reading the signs strewn across the board.  
  
**BADTIMES AND EX'S HILL.  
** **don't cut down the vines you ungrateful nature hating freak.  
eskall if you dare to cut down the glowshrooms there will be consequences.  
  
** Eskall. That's who he was looking for. But Badtimes and EX?  
  
The cyborg knew that EX was Xisuma's evil brother, but he didn't know who Badtimes was. Like, he definitely knew that Badtimes was related to Scar in a way, but he didn't know _who_ he was. He mumbled something before flying off onto the other bases, which actually resembled the hermit's bases from this season, and he could make out which one's were fitting which hermit.  
  
But one from the right stood out. It was a giant skull that poked from a jungle-like forest of blue. It looked like its eyes were staring him down, following his body eerily. The vibe of it seemed so off. He shook his head, gliding in a circle to look at the other buildings.   
  
A giant rock was seen that was about a couple of rocket boosts away, a house that lay on top of it that had..smoke coming from it?? He flew over to it to investigate, landing at the door which had a slightly burnt side on it, which read: **Eskall's Comfort Home  
  
**Huh.  
  
Iskall turned to knock the door but something knocked against it as it flew open, a winged man with horns holding a bunch of empty potions in hand, shouting something to someone inside the house before turning to him.  
  
"WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING ANY BLANKETS IF YOU KNOW ESKALL LIKES THEM WHEN IT'S COLD, PULSIE YOU IDIOT- Oh hey... Iskall." The man turned to him as if they knew him from work.  
  
"Uhh...Hi? Who are you and what's going on-" Iskall was midway through asking the question when the man shushed him up.  
  
"Eskall injured himself again. And his house was on fire. Frostburn fire to be exact. Also, I'm PhantomTek and you should try to help us before he dies. That's Repulse, and Eskall is on the floor." Phantom set the potions on the ground, running inside the door yelling at the man inside. Iskall was confused, but he followed to see Eskall who was laying on the floor and looked just like him (Definitely his alternate self) and a man who had 4 glowing white eyes, hair that was similar to Impulse's, had pointed ears, and a long tail that was just like a dragon's. Repulse. Huh. He was trying to calm the serious burns that had warped the flesh on the unconscious man, but the frostfire had frozen it over, with blood-stained ice in the wounds.  
  
Iskall took the jacket that was wrapped around his waist and bent near his alter-ego, who groaned. "You got any fire here?" Repulse looked at him like he was crazy, because there was ice right on Eskall's arm.   
  
"Are you crazy?" Phantom's feathery tail lit on fire for a small second before he sighed. "We live in the Hellscape Nether. There's barely any fire despite its name. If you need fire then you should-"  
  
Iskall noticed the flash of fire on his tail but ignored it. "Alright, alright. You don't need to be a bitch about it. " He went to a nearby ender chest, fishing for his eyepiece. He felt something cut his finger lightly. Since when did he leave a knife in there? He felt for the handle and pulled it out.   
  
"Holy, since when did I have this knife?" He held it to the light. It shone against it and was changing colors from red to green to blue, feathers at the tips of the hilt. A few letters were carved into it. He walked back to the burnt man on the ground and held the blade to the ice, carefully chipping away at it. The small chunks of ice fell to his side, eventually showing a small chunk of ice slowly melting in the burn.   
  
"Ice is gone, now we need a healing potion. Or 3." Iskall stood up. "Are there bandages anywhere as well?" He wiped some ice and blood off of the blade.  
  
"Yeah, they're outside. I'll go get them." Repulse went outside to search through the shulker boxes that stacked in a mess. That left Phantom and Iskall in silence.   
  
"So uh-"   
  
"Shut up."   
  
"Okay.." He tried to carry his clone on his back and onto the couch, but a few steps in and the weight of the unconscious man mixed with Iskall's leg made the smaller man fall over with a groan. "Hhghh.." He rubbed his head, looking for his clone, who had a softer landing on the couch. Iskall propped himself up with the armest of the couch, hopping to a beanbag in the corner, his leg complaining. The only noises in the room were the sounds of Eskall groaning and Phantom...hissing? It sounded like light hissing.  
  
After a while, Repulse walked in with potions in one hand and bandages in the other. Iskall was about to offer to help but Repulse declined.  
  
"I can do them, don't worry." Repulse uncorked a potion, slowly pouring it on Eskall's arm, the flesh slowly stitching itself together. He uncorked another, smaller, vial before beginning to pour it over his thigh.  
  
"Why are you doing that?!" Phanom scowled at the dragon man.

  
"What do you mean?" Repulse turned around, his four, blank eyes filled with confusion.

  
"Let that bitch suffer. He gave me enough pain before. Let him experience that pain himself." 

  
"The hell?! He's been through enough already!"  
  
"He broke my legs before! He broke my arm! Every single damned interaction I have with him alone just leads to me GETTING A BROKEN BONE. EVEN IF IM NICE TO HIM, I ALWAYS GET PUNCHED OR INJURED. ALWAYS FROM HIM. MAYBE LET HIM FEEL THAT PAIN FOR ONCE!" Phantom rose his voice, walking up to Repulse, who's eyes were glowing a slightly green and a growl escaping his mouth.  
  
"THIS MAN CUTS HIMSELF ON THE DAILY, AND IS CONSTANTLY TAKING IT OUT THE ONLY WAY KNOWS HOW, AND YOUR RESPONSE IS TO WHAT? **GIVE HIM MORE HARM?!** ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?! HES GIVEN **ALL** OF US HELL TOO YOU KNOW!" Repulse screamed at the phantom demon in front of him, who was shaking. He pulled him by the collar, raising him to the wall.  
  
"Guys, please-" Iskall tried to hop up from the beanbag. His eyes were so scared, he couldn't move, but the evil hermits didn't care.  
  
"STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS, YOU CLONE! YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THAT OTHER CYBORG COMMANDER BITCH" Phantom roared at him from the wall. The phantom demon tried to pry the hand around his collar off of him, but it resulted in another hand squeezing around his neck.   
  
Iskall hopped over on the couch, sitting beside Eskall's head. He was shaking. The yelling was the only thing that could be heard. It was insufferable. Everything was blending into each other. He couldn't make out full sentences at all, and everything was _just so l o u d._  
  
 _"-MAYBE IF YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED, YOU COULD HAVE REALIZED THAT I AM ALSO NETHERKIND. I CAN ALSO FEEL EMOTIONS. SO CAN ESKALL-"_  
  
Phantom started to lower his voice as Repulse was screaming at him. His struggle against the hand around his neck subsided. He stopped kicking his legs. His attempts to yell were replaced with shaky breaths, getting more and more ragged. He shut his eyes, panic and fear replacing his rage.  
  
_"Please stop."_ He whispered under his breath, tears rolling down his cheeks. He started to hyperventilate as he fell to the floor. He realized what he had just done. The screaming- He just screamed at his best friend and he was going to hate him for this. He started to choke on his own tears, coughing and gasping. _"I'm sorry-"  
  
_ "Oh shit- Phantom I'm so sorry- I didn't know what came over me I just snapped and I completely forgot-" Repulse's dragon features slowly started to shrink back into his body, eyes filling with concern. The room was then filled with silence, with only the shakey breaths of Iskall, Repulse, and Phantom breaking it.  
  
"That was.." Iskall gulped, shivering without his hoodie to give him warmth.  
  
"...Intense." Phantom finished the sentence, feeling around his neck, sick bruises that lined around it.   
  
"Please don't tell me this happens often with you two-"  
  
"It doesn't. But with me and Eskall, what was said is true. He has quite serious anger issues and we don't know how to help and I always end up as his punching bag." Repulse leaned against he spruce plank wall, wiping sweat from his head.  
  
" _Don't do it again._ That was scary." He took a pillow from the couch and hugged it harshly. _Just how rough can these people be?_ "I should probably finish healing Eskall up-" Iskall leaned over to grab a potion.  
  
"No, don't. I can do it." Repulse stood up, taking the potions away from Iskall "You're injured too. You need a break."  
  
"Alright."  
  
"Pulsie, cmon. Let the dude help himself. We all need a break right now after... this mess." Phantom stood up, taking the potions out of Repulse's hand and lightly soaking a cloth with it, dabbing it over the wounds, cuts, and scratches on the commander's unconscious body, which was slowly stitching itself back together. Iskall offered to bandage his arms with Repulse, who agreed to help.   
  
The three were working in silence, healing the damaged commander the best they could. Iskall was humming while bandaging the arms, going at his own pace. But eventually, they patched Eskall up the best they could before Repulse carried Eskall in his arms like a baby, growing large wings from his back and flying off with Phantom, saying goodbye to Iskall, who had promised to the duo that he'd meet up with them in the waiting world nether as he flew back the way he came. Before leaving, Iskall put a blue hoodie that he had in his waiting world chest on Eskall, who looked as snug as a bug inside the soft blue fabric.  
  
As the netherkind duo flew to Repulse's cave, they didn't notice the soft smile Eskall had on his face when shifting positions in Repulse's arms.   
  


* * *

Iskall landed in the overworld, sun ready to start setting. He guessed that it was around 6:30 PM, meaning he still had time before the party to get ready and say goodbye to the memories from this season. He flew over to Ren's base ready to greet his dogman friend, setting his cyborg eye back in place while gliding. But instead of the ponytailed dogman showing up at the door when he knocked, It was a guy made out of the void and shadows and a blue aetherkind man in diamond armor answering, hot cocoa in their hands.  
  
"Ren! Your friend is here!" The blue one called out, leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"You can come in." The shadowling stepped out of the way for him, allowing the cyborg to walk in, which he did, and his dogman friend was in the kitchen, making another batch of his signature hot cookie sundaes with hot fudge and strawberry cream with homemade caramel mango chocolate balls on the side.  
  
"Oh! Iskall! Hey man! I was just getting some things sorted up! But I talked with Xisuma and now we're getting another new hermit next season! He's a ninja and his name is Aeth!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry phantom, repulse, and iskall.


	11. Prologue (11)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be a long chapter!  
> No warnings apply to this chapter.

  
The duo had teleported in front of a cottage, the warm light of the setting sun reflecting on the windows. The orange terracotta roof blended in the mesa behind it so beautifully, spruce and pine trees lined the side of the stone trail that head to the door of the cabin, stairs made of stone bricks with a small stone that was painted over with a flower on top.  
  
The two had walked to the door, the Shadowling of the two knocking on it before stepping back.  
  
A mix of crashes and a man grunting could be heard inside before the door flung open, revealing a man with a very short, chocolate brown ponytail with an undercut, dog ears despite the man having human ears as well. He held a pot under his arm, oven mitts in both hands. Flour stained his red T-shirt, caramel splattered on one of the short sleeves  
  
"Uhh, hello. Today has been a confusing and full day, so let me just say this: Xisuma told me that you two would be here, like, just now, looking for an Aetherkind and a ninja. They're on the couch to the right watching Animal Planet. I'm Ren by the way."  
  
"Oh, thank you so much, Ren. Thank you. I'm Saint." The shadowling smiled softly, fist-bumping the dogman.  
  
"Thank you, dude. We were worried sick. I'm Skep." Skep shook Ren's hand, who smiled in response.  
  
The duo turned to the right to see an 8-foot tall Aetherkind laying on the couch, legs stretched that reached the other side of the couch, the dark, shiny purple wings stretched out, contrasting against the dark chocolate-colored wood of the floor. Short, fluffy wavy hair curled around the ears. On her lap was a ninja who was laying, staring at the TV in wonder and awe of the animals on screen. His medium white hair was even more messy than usual, somehow covering a part of his left eye. He was wearing a flannel coat with a fur collar, but the coat was covered by a large blanket that covered both he and the healer.   
  
The two were laying on each other, the Aetherkind on the bottom dozing off to the narrator's voice, describing the red pandas that were on screen. A few clinks were heard from the kitchen as Ren complained under his breath, picking up an empty ice cube tray.  
  
"You want help with that?" Skep walked to help Ren, who was washing the tray.  
  
"For the preparation, yeah, thank you. But the baking and mixing and all of that is a private recipe. So could ya help preheat the oven and heat up some water?"  
  
"Of course." Skep hopped to the other side of the kitchen, pouring some hot water in a redstone powered kettle until it reached the halfway point before shutting the lid, flicking the switch under it.   
  
Saint crashed on a couch that was near the other one, wiping at his forehead. He looked to his best bud, who was preheating the oven while simultaneously trying to pour the cocoa powder in mugs with his third wing (and spilling it on himself). The shadowling smiled, pulling a blanket from the couch over on him and rolling it around himself like a blanket burrito, staring at the screen that showed a few animals crawling on top of each other and running around, a calming voice narrating what was going on. Something crashed from above the cabinets as Skep and Ren rushed to push it back up. Both of them were loudly whispering a string of curse words.   
  
  
"Language!" The shadowing said loudly, but soft and quiet enough to not wake the two sleepyheads on the other couch.   
  
"Sorry! _Ren why do you have an entire box in the freezer full of dead fish and birds-"_ Skep whispered the last part to Ren, shoving the box back in.   
  
"I just do. Now, push on 3,"   
  
Saint smiled at the two clumsy men pushing the heavy box above the cabinets, struggling against the fish box. Finally, they managed to push it up and not have it fall on them.  
  
A communicator on the coffee table buzzed in a rhythm as something from the kitchen dinged.  
  
"Water's done heating! Want some hot cocoa dude?" Ren took the kettle and poured it in a mug that had cocoa powder in it, stirring it rather violently and turning to Saint, who nodded happily. Ren smiled, bringing the mug of hot cocoa to the shadowling in a burrito blanket, who reached a hand out from a shadow to grab it. It freaked Ren out a little bit at the shadow walking, but it was also very cool.  
  
"Thank you." The shadowling whispered with a smile, sipping on the hot cocoa. "This tastes amazing."  
  
"Your welcome! I used some purified cocoa beans straight from the jungle with a blend of caramel!" The dogman walked back to the kitchen to pour more hot water in the other mugs.   
  
Ren and Skep took a break from cooking to enjoy some hot cocoa as well, music playing in the background as they shared some good stories from their life, and just having a good time.

* * *

  
  
The ninja awoke after 15 minutes to a pinch above his eye, something covering his vision and shadows moving behind it. A bit of it continued until he realized that it was Neris, who was trying to wake him up.  
  
"What do you want, Neris?" he lifted the wing gently, peeking at the movement in front of his eyes. A shadow was moving in front of him, blanket wrapped around the top of the dark void, and holding a mug with the blanket.  
  
"Uhh...." He felt around, picking the cattermoth up with his right hand and moving it off of him and somewhere else near his head. The ninja felt something soft under him, moving lightly. He picked his head up to view his surroundings more clearly. It was blurry, but he could make out a sleeping purple figure beneath him, dark and shining purple wings covering him like a soft blanket. He smiled, feeling one of the soft feathers under his fingers.  
  
A hand was fell on his back. It caught him a little bit off guard, but he realized he was laying on top of Siren, who was sleeping like a cat. She deserved it, it seemed like she was getting almost no sleep during their time in the banlands, which felt like weeks even if it was a time of a day or two. People were talking in the background, barely familiar. A soft orange light illuminated Siren's face below him, who he laid on like a bear. Neris crawled on his hand, trotting to his back before laying down, wings spread out from shoulder to shoulder.   
  
He hummed a tune, melting into Siren's wing blanket.   
  
"Oh hey, Aeth! You're awake!" A voice near him happily said. He didn't know an Aeth though.  
  
"Who?" He replied, confused.  
  
"You! You're Aeth!" He turned his head to the source of the voice, who was the shadow man from earlier.  
  
"Uhhh...No?"  
  
"Do you not remember?" The shadow man's eyes could be seen now, glowing white with no pupils yet still showing concern. "Do you not remember a single thing? Your past?"  
  
"Mmmm, no..." He rubbed his hair sleepily. A whisper could be heard from the shadow man and someone else in a worried tone. "What? What's going on?" The ninja pushed himself off of the tall Aetherkind beneath him standing up, Neris complaining while clinging to his back. The shadow man who was in front of him sighed, looking down while setting the mug down and putting his hands in his pockets.   
  
"We uhh... We raised you. We trained you and your friend Caleb. You called us Uncle Halo and Uncle Skep. You were a reckless boy. You don't remember anything? Rook? Tristan?"   
  
"Sorry, but I honestly don't remember. I only know that I'm a ninja." He rubbed the back of his arm, the shadow man's eyes filled with anguish as they turned a light pink.   
  
"Oh no.. No no no- Please no-" He sat on the couch, burying his face in his hands as tears fell from the pink eyes. The ninja felt bad when he saw a blue man in a hoodie and 3 wings hurry to the shadow man, sitting at his side and rubbing his back.  
  
"Saint, I'm sure it's okay, it's just temporary amnesia-"   
  
"No! It's- It's a side effect of pushed teleportation! It lasts for a long time! I've felt it! _This isn't okay! He could be gone forever!_ " The shadowling turned to him, eyes glowing deep purple now. He was angry now, but his voice broke.  
  
"Dude.." Skep has never seen his friend like this before.   
  
"Until we can get someone who knows Vex magic, which, by the way, is impossible considering that you are Aetherkind and I'm a Voidkind, then Aeth is gone! The ninja we raised is gone!" He hugged the Aetherkind tightly, crying into the borrowed hoodie. Skep turned, hugging back and patting the shadowling, whos breaths were shakey. Skep swore he could see some of the void of his best friend's body fade a bit, revealing a human-like body.   
  
"Shh..It's gonna be alright, Halo. We're gonna find someone who knows the magic. Aeth will be back soon. It's gonna be alright." Saint hugged tightly as Skep pat his back,. burying his head in the Shadowling's baggy shirt, sniffling.

* * *

  
  
Ren looked at the two, eyes knitted together and eyes filled with sourceless remorse before something popped in his mind.   
  
"Hey um..I think there's a couple of my friends on this server that you can talk with tonight at the party, they have some special magic that you could try to sort out. It's not Vex magic, but a different kind. Best if you try to talk to them before they get blackout drunk though." Ren rolled balls of dough in his hand as he said so, putting it on a tray full of dough balls.  
  
"R- Really?" Saint stuttered a bit leaning back from the hug, wiping his eyes.  
  
"Yeah man, Tango and Impulse got some bedrock and Nether magic that helped when I got struck by lightning and couldn't remember a single thing about my friends! I went completely feral on them! So maybe they can help Aeth with his amnesia?" Ren flashed a smile toward the ninjas, and he could see that when he turned his head towards him, his face was more human-like, with dirty blond hair that curled under his ears and went down to his neck instead of the void hair that was made of shadows and space.   
  
"Oh my.. Thank you so much-" Skep said, pulling off the hoodie (that now had a wet spot on the right shoulder) and sliding on his diamond leggings and stepping in some loafers.   
"That's what the hermits are for!" He set the tray in the oven, shutting it and setting it to bake. 

The ninja who was back to laying on Siren was just staring at the ceiling, questioning his existence with a blank expression on his face. He seemed stressed from something that wasn't here, so Ren took something as an attempt to calm him down.  
  
"Hey, Aeth. There's still some water in the kettle, want me to reheat it so you could have some hot cocoa?" Aeth didn't respond, in fact, the ninja was definitely zoned out. Saint noticed as well.  
  
"Kid, you want some cocoa?" The voidling spoke louder than Ren, which snapped the ninja out of his thoughts.  
  
"Hm? Oh- Yeah. Yes, please I need some." Aeth spoke in a soft tone, way softer than when he was actually himself. Neris chittered in a sad tone, flying to Saint and sitting on the now-dirty blond hair.   
  
"Great. I'll go make it." Ren turned and connected the kettle's plug to a socket, pushing the little button. He turned to get a mug, crushing up some fine cocoa beans until they were powdered before scooping them from the bowl and pouring it in the mug. His communicator buzzed in his pocket as he wiped some excess powder off his hands.  
  
Pulling the device out of his pocket, he met some more messages by Xisuma.  
  
**{6:24 PM}**  
**[Xisuma]: ren  
[Xisuma]: Is it good if I come to your place right now?  
[Xisuma]: I need to discuss some things in person  
[Renthedog]: sure man  
[Xisuma]: alright  
  
**And with that, Xisuma teleported right in front of Ren without warning.  
  
"Woah dude, maybe tell me you were gonna teleport? I thought you were gonna fly here or something."   
  
"Today has been busy, and its the last day, and this is serious. I think." The voidkind clicked off his helmet, setting it in an ender chest and taking out a mask that covered his nose and mouth. It was harder to breathe in it, but it was easier for his voice to go through and also less sweat. The void on the back of his head stopped wrapping around his face and floated up like a flame, just like Saint's head.  
  
"So, what are we going to talk about?" Ren sat on the countertop, crossing his arms.   
  
"The ninja and the others."   
  
"Oh yeah, the ninja. His name is Aeth and he doesn't remember a single thing about his past. The other two raised him and the amnesia is like, long-lasting. They need vex magic to get his memory back and it's basically impossible here, so I suggested to them to come to the party later and talk with Tango and Impulse to do whatever they did to me and get the ninjas memory back."   
  
"Oh goodness.. Well, Tango and Impulse are the best guys for the job, but their magic is basically impossible to understand. I don't think any of the hermits understand what's going on with it."   
  
"Yeah. Siren is still sound asleep somehow." Ren looked at Siren, then back at the admin. "What will we do with them? Traveling to the Aether is basically impossible now, What if the group like, maybe, joined us?"   
  
"Maybe.. But we'd have to put them through the test."  
  
"Yeah, but the other Voidkind is pretty kind." Ren pointed out.  
  
"Maybe" Xisuma took his hair that hung to his shoulders and collected it in a higher ponytail, leaving the discussion between the hermits in silence as the people across the room were talking quietly enough so it could only be heard in bits and piece from their ears.  
  
"This is my decision"  
  
"Aeth-"  
  
"I've made up my mind, I want to be with them. The second I get my memory back, ill make a final choice. But for now, I'm not Aeth right now. Sorry."   
  
Ren's dog ear twitched hearing it. He looked up at Xisuma, who also heard it. It looked as though they were speaking telepathically.   
  
"Well..?" Ren exhaled.  
  
"I guess." The kettle clicked behind the Voidkind, steam rising from the hole. X stepped aside to let Ren hop from the counter, who took the kettle and poured it in the mug, mixing the powder violently with a spoon before he opened the fridge and pulled out the whipped cream and milk, pouring the milk and setting some cream on the hot drink before getting a bottle of caramel and pouring it on top of the whipped cream.  
  
"Your hot cocoa is ready!" Ren called to the ninja, carefully walking with it and setting it on the coffee table. Aeth thanked him, bringing the hot drink to his lips.   
  
"Hey, Aeth was it?" Xisuma asked from the kitchen, sitting on a chair. He had an idea for restoring Aeth's memory.  
  
"Yeah? What do you need?" The ninja turned his head, looking at the admin.  
  
"Could you come here for a second?" The Voidkind pushed the other chair out next to him for Aeth.  
  
"Alright." Aeth set his hot cocoa down, walking to the kitchen.   
  
"I picked up some little bits and bobs of your conversation, sorry about that, but you said you wanted to stay with the hermits? Right? After you get your memory back."  
  
"Yeah. Something about that?"  
  
"I have to let you know that we are very selective about who we let join us. We pick on personality, and there are some rules to being a hermit, such as: Don't destroy buildings left and right, if another hermit is uncomfortable with what you are doing, then stop. This goes the other way around too, if someone is making you uncomfortable, ask them to stop. Only engage in PVP when the other person has agreed so, don't harass people, and don't steal. That's basically it, so do you think you can follow all of these rules?" The admin asked, his eyes changing from yellow to blue. "Also, very rarely do we let people in when they ask, so just remember that."   
  
"I'm pretty sure I can follow them. Anything else?" Aeth scratched his head.  
  
"That's all, you might get to join in season 5 if we think you're fit while we're in the waiting world. You have a communicator already, but If you join, I'll infuse it with some of my admin magic to let you connect to our server. Got it?"  
  
"Got it." Aeth started to get up to go back, but Xisuma stopped him.   
  
"Don't leave yet, there's actually something else."  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"About your amnesia right now, I think I can try to help with it. It's Voidling magic, so it might not fully recover it, but I can try."   
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah. Let's go to where the others are, It could help. I might need Siren's help on this too" Xisuma and Aeth stood up, moving to where the other ninjas (And Ren and Siren too.) were. Saint's body returned to its usual void, hair shorter and shadowy. He looked up at the two. "Could someone wake Siren up?" the Voidkind asked, grabbing the attention of the Cattermoth that laid on Saint's head.   
  
The cattermoth responds with some chirping, flying over to Siren's face and biting it repeatedly. The others thought it did nothing but the cattermoth continued until a wing waved it off.  
  
"Mhmgh, get off you dummy butterfly. 5 more minutes." The healer lazily said, rolling on her side. The cattermoth, upon being told this, did not stop. Instead, Neris flew to the tip of her tail and started biting again.   
  
"OW-" This time, Siren was fully awake when the cattermoth bit the sensitive tail. "Neris what the-" She turned to look at the cattermoth, but she found an old admin friend, the ninja, and three other people around her. "Uhh.."

* * *

  
  
"Siren, its been a while." The admin near her crossed his arms.  
  
"It sure has, X." She sat up straight on the couch, wings pressed against the cushions. "Saint too."   
  
"Don't- Don't bring me up in what happened before," Skep said, sitting at the bottom of another couch next to Saint. A minute of silence passed between the group.  
  
"Well, this is kinda awkward.." Ren spoke behind Saint, sitting crisscross. Xisuma sighed, readjusting himself on the pillow on the ground, whispering something to the ninja near him before he nodded.  
  
"Siren, the ninja you have been with, his name is Aeth. He lost his memory around the time he entered the Banlands. And only Vex magic can lift the amnesia from what we know so far."   
  
"So you're about to ask me if I want to help you restore his memory with a mix of my healer magic and your Voidkind magic? I can do that. And the memory will be janked up for a few years or maybe his entire life too considering Saint experienced something similar to this?" She folded her arms, leaning back on her wings and puffing her chest out. It certainly did intimidate Skep and the ninja- _Aeth, his name is Aeth_.  
  
"How- How did you already-" Skep stuttered in awe.   
  
"I'm the famous Healer of the Aether, so I know a ton about healing magic. I was worshipped and praised by quite a number of religious people on the mainland. You probably didn't know because you were raised in the lowerland. I envy you, Skep." She sighed before speaking again in a quieter voice. " _Even weirder is the fact that I'm 16 in human years._ "  
  
"Yikers.." Ren muttered. "That's pretty weird."   
  
"Yeah, Saint got them to stop thankfully. But, anyway, who do we need to help with the magic other than you and me? Memory process and all." She asked her old admin friend, clapping when she half changed the subject. "You should definitely try to help." She directed the last part at Saint, who nodded.   
  
"Of course."   
  
"I believe the people who are most involved in his life should also help try to boost his memory." Xisuma stated.  
  
"So I should also help then." Skep added.  
  
"Yup"  
  
"I'm just going to go make some more hot cocoa for you guys, I have not much of a part in this." Ren stood up from the pillow he sat on, heading to the kitchen. His communicator buzzed on the table until he picked it up, reading the message.  
  
**[iskall85]: coming over in a few minutes.**  
  
Ren marked it as read, setting the communicator back down and checking the oven.   
  
Meanwhile, Siren, Xisuma, and Aeth went outside with Saint and Skep following and sat the ninja down before two were sitting on either side of him, Xisuma in front and Siren behind. The Aetherkind brought a shining book from an enderchest and handed it to X, who started to write something in ancient galactic.   
  
"Alright, Aeth. I need you to stay still and to close your eyes, got it?" Siren got a nod in response.  
  
The healer set her hands on Aeth's back, a warm pink glow emanating from her hands that expanded to the outline of butterfly wings on Aeth's back that lit up her face, purple dots flew off of the area like fireflies. X, meanwhile, finished writing the script in the shining book, which was glowing purple. The Voidkind summoned an enderchest, pulling a small blade out that glowed bright purple with a set of initials carved into the blade, the handle made of dark endstone, the hilt appeared as a pure void that felt cold and unwelcoming, a set of small shadow wings set from them with a purple eye in the middle.  
  
"Its been forever since this blade has been used." He mumbled to himself, slicing the blade through the void mist that left through his head. Instantly, the blade shone brighter, enchanting itself.   
  
"Holy cow, is that the Crystal Watcher? Like, the blade that was split with the three other dimension blades?" Saint stared at the artifact in wonder.   
  
"It sure is. " Xisuma set the blade on a set of text in the glowing book, weird particles flying off of it like embers. He slid the ancient blade out of the book, stabbing it in the ground. Aeth jumped back a bit at the blade, the pink glow behind him dimmed.  
  
"Stay still." Siren repeated, focusing on the magic.   
  
"Sorry."   
  
"It's fine. Saint, Skep, could you set a picture of you and Skep in between the blade and Aeth? The one that you always keep on you? Also, could you two share memories you've had with Aeth for a minute?"  
  
"Of course!" He fished for the picture from inside his jacket and placed it in between the artifact and the ninja.   
  
  
  
"Really hope this doesn't get burnt." The Shadowling mumbled, looking back at the picture of him and his best friend the day before they met Aeth. He and Skep stood next to the ninja, who was now glowing.  
  
"Xisuma, you ready?"   
  
"Yes." The Voidkind's body was shaking, his antennae started to show from underneath his hair.   
  
"3... 2.... 1..." Siren felt sweat run down her nose, the hair sticking to her neck. "GO!" 

When she said that, at that moment, 3 things happened.  
  
Siren and Xisuma sent a huge wave of magic into the ninja, which surrounded him in a ball of energy and blinding.  
  
A shockwave followed from the wave of magic, blowing the 4 back.  
  
The ancient blade in the ground was no longer glowing with enchantments.  
  
  
The overwhelming blast of energy tore up the ground around them, pink and purple powder and particles raising from the cracks that tore through the trail. Siren and Xisuma were panting, catching their breath as sweat fell from their heads. Their magic was drained and they were exhausted, but something told them that it was worth it.   
  
It was worth it.  
  


* * *

  
  
Saint was laying on the ground, his sleeves torn from the blast. His breaths were heavy, but the Shadowling could see the ball of energy around the ninja fade, coughing emerging from it in a familiar voice. His vision was blurry and his ears were ringing, but he could make out the shape of the ninja he knew, hunched over.  
  
He swore he could see a pair of large butterfly wings on the ninja fade away, and they weren't a glowing outline this time. Saint coughed, pushing himself up from the dark grass and pulled himself up.   
  
"Aeth?" The shadowling coughed, limping over to the ninja.  
  
"Uncle Halo?" Aeth looked at him and smiled.   
  
"Oh my god- Aeth." He collapsed onto Aeth, hugging him tightly. "I thought I couldn't get you back- I thought you were truly gone when I saw you had the amnesia." Saint sniffled into the ninja's flannel jacket, smiling.  
  
"Halo, I'm so sorry for worrying you, I shouldn't have used that extra teleport." He hugged back tightly.  
  
"Aeth? Is that you? Are you back?" Skep spoke from behind, holding onto an arm and eyes wide.  
  
"Uncle Skep- It's me. Really me." Aeth turned behind him, holding an arm out to let Skep into the hug. Skep ran towards them, tackling Aeth and Saint with a hug.   
  
"I've missed you. Don't you ever worry us like that again you rascal." Skep squeezed hard on the hug, tears filling his eyes. But they were tears of joy. _"Rascal..."_  
  
It felt like an hour when it was only 3 minutes, but eventually, the trio pulled away from the hug. A voice near them spoke up.   
  
"Let's go inside. I hear rockets in the distance." Xisuma said nearby, coughing.   
  
"You're right." Saint stood up, patting off dust and dirt and making a joke with Aeth and Skep.  
  
Siren smiled seeing the three happy ninjas walk into the house. It reminded her of when she and Willow would adventure in the jelly tree forests at night, jumping at the slightest of sounds in the pitch-black night. She walked behind them, picking up the picture on the stone that was burnt at the edge. Xisuma was next to her, picking up the blade in the ground and setting it in the enderchest.

* * *

  
Ren was in the middle of making a new batch of caramel mango chocolate balls when Saint, Skep, and Aeth walked in, large smiles on their faces. It worked. He smiled, setting the rolled dough on the baking tray. Soon after, Siren and X walked in. They talked happily for about a minute before the chatter died down, Xisuma taking a chance to ask a question.   
  
"So, Aeth, do you still want to join the hermits?" The admin asked, Aeth responding for a moment with a troubled look on his face before looking at the other ninjas. They nodded at him with a smile.  
  
"Well yes but- What about you guys? What will you do?"   
  
"We'll be protecting our town as always! You need to find your friends too. Caleb will be safe, don't worry." Skep said softly, smiling as he sipped on the hot cocoa.   
  
"Don't worry about us, Aeth. You can still visit us from time to time." Saint put his hand on the ninja's shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.  
  
"But-"   
  
"Just do it, kid." Skep pushed him forward. "You want to."  
  
"Well, Aeth?" Xisuma waited. Aeth turned to look at the admin, eyes now filled with determination.  
  
"Yes. I'll join the hermits." Xisuma smiled at the man, pulling him in a hug.  
  
"Welcome to the hermits, Aeth." Aeth was caught by surprise, a tear shimmering in his eye upon the response.  
  
...  
  
"Thank you, Xisuma, Siren... Thank you for returning me." Aeth hugged back with a sniffle. 

* * *

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took some time to make wow. 
> 
> The art was drawn by me. :)


	12. Prologue (12)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All we see is sky, for forever.  
> And let the world pass by, for forever  
> And it feels like we could go on for forever this way.
> 
> All we see is light, for forever.  
> Cause the sun shines bright for forever.  
> Like we'll be alright, for forever this way.
> 
> Two friends on a perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dang uhh  
> this is a long chapter.  
> also yeah! we're nearing the end of the prologue? already? huh???

  
Iskall stared at his friend in bewilderment.  
  
"..What?! Didn't Xisuma already announce-" Iskall was about to speak but Ren shushed him up.  
  
"Shushshsuh, keep this between you and me, but-"  
  
"You know I can hear you you know?" Xisuma spoke in the background. "You can talk to Iskall about it, it's fine."   
  
"Well, alrighty. Are you making the party snacks right now?" Iskall walked in, peeking over Ren's shoulder. The oven beeped loudly when he was about to say another thing, which startled him enough to slap Ren on accident.  
  
"Oww.." The dogman set a tray down, rubbing at his cheek.  
  
"Oh, dude I'm so sorry."  
  
"It's fine." Ren walked over to the oven, putting on oven mitts and taking the tray of the plain fresh-baked goods out, catching a whiff of the sweet small pastries. The dogman took off the mitts and dipped the balls in a bowl of melted chocolate, rolling them in coconut and mango powder and setting them aside on another tray. He repeated this until the batch was all gone from the tray, setting the other tray in the freezer and washing his hands.   
  
"So, about this Aeth dude, who is he?" The cyborg questioned, hands in pockets.  
  
"I'm a ninja, and I can teleport! You'll learn about me more in the next season!" An unfamiliar voice spoke up from one of the couches in the living room. Iskall turned around to the source of the voice, who was a man who was about 6 feet tall, had a black mask resting on his neck, a flannel coat with a fur collar, and messy white hair that was held back by a headband. His red eyes shined like redstone, contrasting against his pale skin. He laid on the brown couch, feet resting on an armrest.  
  
"Oh, sorry I didn't notice you. My name's Iskall." The cyborg looked at him, his mechanical eye picking up strange energy in the room that radiated around the ninja. He took his hand to the eye, flipping a small switch that was just by his ear. It clicked, his vision changing to one similar to a metal detector, a red cover coating his vision. Instantly, the detector beeped something in his ear, showing blue speckles in his vision, nearing around a large blob of blue, green, and yellow that shifted ever so slightly, the blob resembling the shape of what Iskall could guess as either wings or untapped cloaking magic covering something else.  
  
The cyborg sighed, switching his vision back to normal. "If you want to know something about the hermits before you join, Aeth: Don't venture out too deep into the Nether or the End. The Deep Nether, or what is called as the Hellscape Nether, does exist. I don't know much about it, but a few mythology books I've read have told me that there are giant, dangerous mobs that are as tough as a First Being. I'm sure you know what those are, right?" He told the ninja, who nodded at the question at the end. Xisuma stared at him like he made a huge discovery, because well, he did.   
  
"You've seen the Hellscape Nether? That's like, literally a million blocks from here- How did you get there?" The admin asked, expression in his eyes like he just saw a ghost. "The only way you can get there quickly is through the help of Vex magic, bedrock energy, or Admin magic! And there's the border too! The Nether gateblade and Dimension Blade would be required to open that part of the Nether for non Netherkind too!"  
  
"Well I just went there today, and it felt like just normally gliding for 20 minutes. Nothing strange went on, other than the fact that I felt a bit nauseous when flying past a large lava fall. It felt like something zapped me."   
  
  
This earnt a stare from everyone in the room, which slightly made Iskall uncomfortable. The admin's antennae were beginning to appear as if popping into reality like a quick and dense fog.  
  
"What? Did I do something bad?"  
  
"Iskall- How do I say this-" Xisuma couldn't find his words, but luckily, a tall Aetherkind next to him spoke for the Voidkind.  
  
"What he's trying to say is: You just proved one of the oldest theories on the Hellscape Nether, The Electric Aether Portal theory. It went as: If you went through one of the borders in the Nether with a Dimensional Aether gateblade or the Feathered Protector, would the electricity from the gateblade unlock the border and let you glitch far into the Nether and let you go to the Hellscape Nether." Xisuma could tell Siren's love for legends was showing from that explanation.  
  
"I don't understand. I don't have a gateblade, much less an ancient Dimensional blade. I only have my swords and some small blade in my enderchest that had a color-changing blade. How would I be able to open the border with it?"   
  
"Iskall, I don't know if you've seen the suggested appearance of the Feathered Protector, but its got a color-changing blade too." Xisuma brought up, opening his communicator and showing Iskall carvings in rock, runes, and drawings of a blade with a feathered hilt, a shining color-changing blade that glowed in the runes. Iskall looked at them, looking through the images before stumbling upon a rune that looked very ancient.   
  
"This, this is what the blade I have looked like." Iskall gave the communicator back to Xisuma, who put it down.   
  
"Could you show us the blade?" Siren asked, her eyes coated in wonder. Iskall nodded, taking a chest out of his inventory and placing it down, rummaging through the mess inside of it and feeling the soft feathers on his fingertips. He felt around for the handle, grabbing it and pulling it out gently. The blade was longer than when it was in the Nether, around the size of his diamond sword. The blade shined, a carving at the base of the blade softly blinking with a blue glow.   
  
"Oh my god... It's so pretty-" The Aetherkind gawked at the blade, shining majestically in a range of different pastel colors, blending into each other without creating a horrible ugly brown that usually appeared when a lot of colors mixed. "That's it. That's the Feathered Protector. Iskall, how did you find this?"  
  
A voice from the other side of the room spoke up, the cyborg recognizing it as the shadow bodied man from earlier. "It's so- gorgeous. I remember seeing carvings of it but seeing it in person, It's just a whole new feeling." A moment of silence bloomed in the room as everyone stopped and stared at the ancient blade.  
  
"I think I found it when End busting with Mumbo. I saw a shiny thing from inside an injured shulker and I thought it was an enchanted sword, so I took it and stored it in my enderchest." He set the blade down gently on top of the counter, in between Siren and Xisuma. It gave Xisuma an idea as he rummaged through the enderchest Iskall set down, pulling out a short blade that had a faint purple glow, the shape of it like a dagger.   
  
"The magic for this blade is weak since it's in the Overworld, but what if I just-" Xisuma sliced the blade through the misty void part of his head again, the blade shining itself up upon contact. The Voidkind carefully set the smaller blade next to the Aether one, a glow surrounding both weapons upon being set down.   
  
Iskall watched, not even realizing that the people in the living room were now gathered around the blade as well, waiting for what would happen. The Dimensional blades shook, the glow getting brighter. Iskall squinted his other eye, white energy forming around both, blinding the rest of the group, but as for a brief moment, he could see a greatsword on the table, glowing indigo with the hilt glowing cyan, flowing shadow wing on one side and a feathered wing on the other, a stone in between that looked like a purple eye. The blade was darker, the sharp blade's colors now were just like the end portals, complete void.  
  
"Oh gosh-" Xisuma seemed to be the only other person who got a glimpse of the beautiful blade. The blinding light had stopped, the beautiful blade divided back into their split blades.  
  
"Did anyone else see that?" Iskall wiped his forehead. It seemed like it was also a very hot light as he felt sweat drip from his hair.  
  
"No, only white." Another Aetherkind in the room spoke, 3 dragon wings unfurling around blue skin.   
  
"The blades fused for a moment." Xisuma was still staring at the Dimensional blades, the image of the fused sword now engraved in his head. Ren walked back from the circle as the oven dinged, putting on oven mitts and returning to making the treats.

* * *

  
The group sat in the living room for a while, Ren finished with the pastries and treats that were now in multiple boxes, ready to be eaten at the party. Iskall gave the Aether blade to Siren, but when she tried to grab it, her hand his an invisible barrier, air around it distorting like waves, rippling every time she tried to touch it.   
  
"Seems the blade has now chosen you." She sighed, putting her hands in her pockets.  
  
"What does that mean? X was able to grab it." The cyborg set the sword at his side, the blade glimmering with warm orange light reflecting off of it.   
  
"That's because the Crystal Watcher had chosen him. When the split blades choose someone, it means that they can use it. It lets them hold the other blades too. So since the blade has chosen you, you can use some Aether magic."  
  
"I thought it only chooses things that come from its dimension though, and I'm not Aetherkind."   
  
"See, here's the thing: The blades don't care about where the holder is from. They choose whoever they want and they choose people with a good heart. And the blade will stay with you through worlds and journeys." Siren patted the smaller cyborg on the shoulder. "Now you guys have a party to get to, It's 8." She smiled, looking back at Xisuma and Ren who were hurriedly packing up things with Aeth.   
  
Xisuma stopped packing for a moment, turning his head to the two Aetherkind and the Shadowling.   
  
"You guys can come to the party as well." He was wearing his helmet again, but his cheeks pressed against the edge of his dimly lit eyes. Siren, Saint, and Skep smiled back.   
  
"That's all the stuff we need Xisuma. Could you teleport us to the location now?" Ren said, holding all of the food and snacks he and X made in his arms.  
  
"Of course." The admin pulled out his communicator, typing in a teleport command and linking it to everyone in the area. The 7 felt a sudden feeling of being pulled away by a void feeling, leaving the room empty.   
  
Just as suddenly as they were pulled away, the group stumbled to a building that was definitely fit for a good party with the number of hermits in the server. Upon entering it, a few hermits were already there, such as Scar (And Jellie), Wels, Mumbo, False, and Cleo. Scar had brought a freshly baked pie for the hermits, Wels had brought a game of Duels, which the hermits loved playing with and against each other. Mumbo had brought a blanket of wool and a projector for the hermits to watch a movie while they ate, False had brought some drinks and some heavy pillows, and Cleo had brought a speaker.  
  
"Xisuma! We've been wondering where you were!" Scar walked up to the admin and set Jellie on the ground, taking the food that Xisuma was struggling to stay balanced on his arms and setting it on the table along with the pie and drinks. Ren handed one of the boxes of food he was carrying to Iskall, who helped carry them to the table.   
  
False had been chatting with Cleo and Wels, while Mumbo was in another room, setting up the projector and speaker. Cleo heard Scar welcoming Xisuma, so he went to greet the late admin with a hug. She then tackled Ren and Iskall to the ground with a big bear hug that crushed their lungs. After that, she turned back at the admin, who seemed to have more people behind him. He moved out of the way and let them in, only one did Cleo recognize.  
  
"Siren! It's been a while!" The zombie ran to hug the tall Aetherkind, who lifted her effortlessly in a tight hug.   
  
"Cleo! You can't just hog all the Siren hugs!" Scar complained jokingly, lifting up Jellie who was trying to open Ren's boxes of food.   
  
"Sorry Scar! C'mon and get in here!" Siren set Cleo down, moving onto Scar, who immediately melted into the warm hug. Jellie purred, climbing onto his shoulders. Siren wrapped her wings around him, pushing the man closer into a hug. She was about to let go after a minute before False jumped onto her back, clinging onto the Aetherkind. Wels soon joined in, Siren giving the hermits a big and warm group hug.  
  
"I can't believe you guys thought I was an NPC for the first few months." Siren let go from the hug, turning around. "Saint, Skep, Aeth, cmon! Meet the hermits!" She called, the 3 revealing themselves to the hermits.  
  
"Woah are you a Voidkind?" Cleo ran to Saint, a look of wonder written down her face as she looked at the unusual Shadowling.  
  
"A hybrid, actually." He responded.  
  
"Woah- I never knew that there were hybrids in the end. Are they rare?"   
  
"Well, the void spat a small group of us out once. Guessing by how we were treated, the void did not want more of it to happen so I and my group of misfits are the only hybrids of Voidkind and Shadowling Voidkind."

"Wow-"   
  
"Anyways, my name is Saint. That's Skep and that's Aeth." He pointed to his best friends.  
  
"Oh, I'm Cleo! That's False, the blonde one who's talking with Skep and Aeth, and that's Wels in the armor next to her. Mumbo is still setting up the projector, and Scar is talking with Siren." The zombie smiled. "Also, there are chips on the table if you want some. I'm gonna go help Mumbo now! Bye!" And like that, Cleo went to one of the rooms. Rockets shot off in the distance as more people walked through the doors, some crashing into the ground with broken elytra. In around 10 minutes, there were around 20 people there, some brought food while others brought games and snacks.  
  
The ninjas got along with the hermits, especially for Aeth, who got along really well with Beef. Saint walked next to Skep, who was drinking a weird mix of what seemed like soda, milk, and apple juice.   
  
"Skep, what are you drinking."  
  
"I have no idea. I asked Ren to pour me a drink while I helped set up Duals, but when I came back he handed me a cup and said 'Apple Smilk'. And by the way, Xisuma said that we do not give alcohol to Ren, Iskall, Tango, or Cleo before the movie because apparently the last time they did, they tried to tame a Wither." Saint chuckled, sitting down against the wall as Cleo started a pillow fight against False and Joe.  
  
"Seriously?"   
  
"Yeah man. But I was talking with False and Wels, and Tango is Netherkind. And we both know that their alcohol tolerance is all over the place." Skep sat beside his friend, finishing the cup.   
  
"That explains him then."   
  
"Yeah."   
  
The two sat still, watching the mess that is False sneaking up behind Cleo and whacking her in the back of her head with a pillow, who responded by jumping on False's back as the blonde carried her around the house, Python stopping them when they tried to go upstairs. False, who was carrying Cleo, responded by kneeling down and letting Cleo grab a pillow and smack the red creeper out of the way. Somehow, they got ahold of a speaker and were blasting some obscure music. They circled the inside of the house, knocking anyone who stood in their way.  
  
When it was time for food, the zombie was still riding on False's back. Ren _tried_ to get Cleo off so she could eat, but somehow, _she jumped onto Ren's back from False's and clung onto Ren_. This scene drove Iskall to tears and was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath. Xisuma tried to peel the zombie off of Ren, but she took a spoon from the table with one hand and pulled Mumbo's arm with the other, pushing the redstoner in front of the two.   
  
"I am defending ourselves with a spoon! I will fight for our glory with another spoon!"   
  
"Ren, the revolution ends now." Their admin tried to stop the two from running into a wall, but that failed.   
  
"Never!" The dogman smiled, charging at X. "Zombie dog revolution baby!" He crashed onto the Admin, the zombie on top of him falling over and hitting the floor with a thud. Ren's fall was merely a stumble, X was fine because of his armor, but Cleo fell hard onto the dark oak planks.  
  
"Cleo are you alright?" Ren got up, rushing to Cleo's side. Her body shook, small sharp noises coming from her. "Oh no- Cleo I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She didn't move, the only movement from her was the shaking. But when he moved her hair aside to get a look at her face, she burst out in laughter.  
  
"I swear to god Cleo. You made me worried sick." The dogman tried to help the zombie up, but she kept stumbling over and laughing. When she finally calmed down, she took her seat, looking at all the tasty food on the table.   
  
They ate the delicious meals prepared by the other hermits, laughing and telling stupid stories, getting to know the ninjas as well, making more memories that will never be forgotten. The cattermoth woke up from its rest in Aeth's lap, smelling the cooked chicken, the sweet smell of cinnamon buns wafting through the air, Wels's handcrafted pizza with a smell that would make you think about the good memories you've had with friends.   
  
Neris flapped its wings on Aeth, letting him know that they were awake. A hand fell on the cattermoth's neck in response, scratching the neck fluff in all the right areas. Neris chirped, asking for more.  
  
"Neris- I can't show you right now. Shush." Aeth whispered, Neris's eyes looking back judgementally. The ninja put his hand on Neris's back, stroking it and making sure to avoid touching the wings and continuing his conversation with Beef and Python. The cattermoth enjoyed the petting, but it wanted more, so it proceeded to climb around his jacket and crawling up Aeth's back and peeking its head from his shoulder, looking at the people chatting around the table and laughing.   
  
Then, it jumped off his jacket, using their wings to glide down softly. Neris looked at the many legs, walking aside them until it approached the end of the table, a pair of armored legs sat at the chair, a black cat sleeping at the feet. Neris slowly climbed up the chair, the cat-sized cattermoth crawling up the back of the person's helmet covered head, wings folded. When it reached the top of the helmet, Neris stretched, wings expanded to the largest they could be and letting out a loud, cat and mothlike squeal.  
  
  
It echoed through the room as the hermits quieted down, looking up at the cattermoth that made the noise.  
  
"... I did not make that noise." the Admin stated.  
  
"No, but the thing on your helmet did." Joe pointed out, motioning his hand above Xisuma's helmet.   
  
"Wha-?" The admin took off his helmet and held it in front of him. A voice spoke up from the other side of the table.  
  
"NERIS HOW DID YOU GET THERE," Aeth shouted from his seat, getting up. The cattermoth turned around, looking at the ninja and chirping.   
  
"Is that yours?" Joe asked the ninja, who nodded.   
  
"I also own it!" Siren sipped on her soda. "Neris the cattermoth. Rascal moth."   
  
"Oh, so like your familiar?" Joe was intrigued by this idea. "I haven't seen one since season 2."   
  
"Well, we've only met Neris like, a couple of days ago. I brought it with me from the Banlands, with an entity connection so the world didn't glitch out."   
  
"Ah." Joe set his hand down, but he felt something fuzzy under it. He glanced down and saw the cattermoth rubbing against his hand like a cat. "Looks like someone wants some rubs." He scratched the fur collar and stared at the creature. Its pink and purple wings were pretty big, and a fuzzy black body the size of a cat. Small orange horns were growing under the antennae, which were a mix of a butterfly and moth antennae. Neris purred quietly with the scratches.   
  
The purring stopped when Neris walked out of Joe's hand and flew up, flying to Aeth's head. The ninja sighed, walking back to his chair with a cattermoth on his head and rolled into a ball.   
  
"So that's the entity that Siren brought from the Banlands. Got it." Xisuma set his helmet back on, clicking a button on the side of it.   
  
"Yup. Neris also loves attention as you saw." Siren mentioned, Neris immediately chirping hearing its name. "We don't know Neris's gender yet, though."   
  
"Yeah, It confused me. Still trying to figure it out." Aeth shrugged. "But this little rascal of a moth nearly got me stuck in the Banlands forever. I had the burn signal things, I asked for help since Neris was there, and it just took them and flew out of my reach. And if I couldn't teleport closer, then Siren couldn't have come over to me and heal and keep me company."   
  
"What a rascal." Ren mumbled, biting into a biscuit.   
  
Saint leaned to the ninja, whispering something in his ear. Aeth nodded and Saint picked the cattermoth up from his head, setting it on his lap. Neris chittered in response, sitting up instead.

* * *

  
  
Dinner went by for the hermits and the ninjas, and soon it was movie time. Iskall ran for a blanket and pillow, accidentally shoving Ren out of the way. He threw the pillow to the spot closest to the screen. X sat on the couch, Tango and Impulse sitting next to him. Python sat near the wall with only a pillow against his head. Cleo, Joe, and False were laying on a beanbag with a blanket draped over them like ghosts.  
  
The ninjas sat with Siren, her wings covering all three of the like a soft blanket. Mumbo fiddled with the remote before finding the movie they all agreed on.  
  
"I'll go get popcorn and drinks for you guys." Scar walked out of the room, Jellie following him as the intro played.   
  
A few minutes later, he returned with the popcorn, handing it to the hermits to share. He passed out the drinks to anyone who wanted as well. As the movie went on, it was clear Mumbo knew what the hermits liked. It was just enough horror to get everyone to jump a little, but light enough for everyone to enjoy without having nightmares.  
  
By the end of the movie, it was around midnight, yet everyone was still wide awake. Wels took the party games out. Twister, Duels, and Telepathy. The first one they played was Twister.  
  
"Right foot blue!" Beef called, grinning at the twisted mess of hermits on the mat.  
  
Biffa moved his foot to the blue dot, but he twisted around a little too far and collapsed on the mat, taking Jess down with him.   
  
"Aw come on!" The assassin complained, stepping off the mat and stretching. "I could have won!"   
  
"Sorry, dude! Lost my balance!" The robot chucked. The two walked to the kitchen, Biffa making some tea for Jess.  
  
That left Iskall, Xisuma, Wels, and Ren on the mat, all of them twisted uncomfortably.  
  
"Alrighty now...." The bearded man spun the arrow twice. "Left hand yellow." He smiled, seeing the knight crawled above Xisuma, whos arm was shaking and his leg stretched above Iskall's hand.  
  
Ren was bent with two hands next to each other on the mat, Wels's leg tangled with his right leg.   
  
"Left foot red."   
  
Xisuma fell over, Wels twisted around until his stomach faced up and stretched his leg out. Iskall grunted near him as he almost fell.  
  
"Wels how are you staying so balanced! You're wearing armor!" Ren complained next to him.   
  
"It's a secret!" The knight smiled. "I may have not been here this season, but I still came here to party!"   
  
"Right hand yellow!" Beef announced.  
  
The knight shifted his hand to the yellow circle, but only his wrist made contact with the mat as his arm slipped, body dropped on the mat.  
  
"Hah!" Iskall chuckled, effortlessly twisting himself and his hand hitting the yellow. Ren didn't need to do much twisting, however, and he just simply slid it to the circle.  
  
Beef called out two more colors, neither Iskall nor Ren falling.  
  
"Alright, right foot blue!"   
  
Ren shifted around, his body unbalanced. He hopped his foot to the color, but his other leg wasn't in the right place for it, and he fell over.  
  
"YES! I win!" Iskall laughed. "Let's go!" The cyborg shot his fist in the air as he also fell doing it. He stood up, shaking hands with Ren.  
  
"GG."   
  
"Aw man, good game. I never really expected you to be so flexible for a short guy."   
  
"Oh shut up. You know that fighting needs you to be flexible sometimes." He elbowed Ren and jumped on a couch, watching the other hermits set up Telepathy. The rules of the game were simple: Everyone writes a prompt on a piece of paper, puts it in a bowl or bag, then they get mixed up. Then someone has to pull the prompt out of their bag and act out a scene with someone else with it and everyone has to guess. Only they know what the prompt is. At the end of the scene, the person with the prompt tells the person they acted with the prompt they got.  
  
Everyone was handed their scrap of paper, and Iskall knew what to write. He took a pen from a jar and wrote it out, then folding the paper and putting it in the bag. Once everyone's paper was in, Joe was called up with the prompt and had to act with Jevin.   
  
The poet sat on a beanbag, holding an enchanted book with his eyes closed. The slime man had walked up to him slowly and cautiously.   
  
"Greetings, mortal. I am Oej, the protector of the hills, the keeper of secrets. I can grant you any wish at a cost."  
  
"I've been looking for you for forever, Oej. I have one wish and one wish only. I am Vin, a traveler from Hermitville, and have been sent here by my chief to request something of you."   
  
"And what shall that wish be, my dear traveler?"   
  
"All we ask of you is to cure us of the sickness that has plagued our town. I'd do anything to help my small village out."   
  
"Anything?" Joe smiled at the slime man. The two were definitely having fun with this.   
  
"Anything. I am aware of the tricks and twists you can pull on the wishes. But please, you have to help the village!"  
  
"And you trust me?"  
  
"Anything for my village. I fully trust you with every cell of my body."  
  
Joe smirked and closed the enchanted book, then snapped his fingers.   
  
"Your wish is granted, my dear traveler. However, the cost is quite sufficient for this. They no longer know who you are. You are just only remembered by one and remembered to them as a menace that brought wrath upon the land. Do you think it was worth it? The village will no longer believe you if you tried to convince them what you've done to help." Jevin hesitated for a moment when he heard the question.  
  
"It was worth it." The slime man smiled. "I trusted you and you gave me what I wanted. If I helped, they don't need to know. They can hate me now, and I am fine with that, as that won't damage the good thought that I had helped them."   
  
"You did well, traveler. Now come with me, there are many heroes that have traveled far and wide for me, and ended up forgotten and hated. It's a place you will fit in." Joe stood up from the beanbag and set the book down, reaching to shake hands with Jevin. "The End."   
  
"That was- beautiful. I didn't expect it to play like this." Saint wiped his eyes. "And that was improvised as well."   
  
"That's what happens when Joe gets the prompt. It ends up poetic and as a great story." Siren pat the Shadowling's back.   
  
"Now, could any of you guess what the prompt was?" Joe asked the hermits, a few of them whispering to each other.  
  
"Was it about bravery?" Tango asked, sitting crisscross.  
  
"No, but close."   
  
"Wishes?" Skep asked. "Or the risks you have to take to get somewhere?"   
  
"No."  
  
"Trust?" Siren added.  
  
"Bingo. It was about trust. And the cost of your actions whether it was good or bad. Surprisingly, it was what Iskall put in." Jevin joined back into the small crowd of hermits. "Should we do another round?" the poet asked.   
  
"I would say yes, but Duels is waiting for us." False stood up and stretched. "What time is it?"  
  
"Around 1:04 AM. And yeah, I think it's also time for Duels." Xisuma agreed, standing up to get the connection set. Everyone else got up to stretch and talk for a moment while they waited for their admin to return.   
  
"I think I should bring some drinks for this." Tango mentioned, hurrying to the kitchen to find the bottles. Siren left to refill the chip bowl.   
  
Saint, Skep, and Aeth were leaned against the wall. "So what is Duels? I've never played it." Skep asked. Saint and Aeth shrugged.   
  
"I don't know. It seems fun from the way the hermits are talking about it." Saint said after a small moment of silence. Neris laid on Aeth's hair once again, wings folded.  
  
Soon, the tall Aetherkind had returned, holding two bowls of chips and setting it on the coffee table. Skep took the moment to ask her a question, the other two ninjas followed behind him.  
  
"Hey, Siren, what is Duels anyway?"   
  
"Oh! Duels is a fun game! It's where you write something on an app on your communicator and face off against someone else about it in different ways. There's the bracket version, where two people put what they wrote up with a question or statement with a blank and everyone has to vote which one is funnier. There's also the literal dueling, where two people take a prompt that was anonymously sent in and make the weirdest argument over it, then it ends up with those people fighting in PVP with sticks or wooden swords. No actual fighting is allowed. My favorite Duels version is the one where you have to put in a truth about someone and another person puts in a lie, and the person that the truth/lie is about has to approve one of them as a fact, then people have to blindly vote which one is the truth. When one of them gets the most votes, the truth is revealed."   
  
"Huh! That is interesting."   
  
"Yeah. I can download the thing for you if you want."   
  
"Please and thanks."   
  
"Alright, hand em here." The ninjas gave their communicators to the healer, who quickly added the app to them. "There you go. Now you can play with us." She patted each of them on the shoulders and walked to the group, with Xisuma back with them and finished setting up the connection.  
  
The first game of Duels was the bracket version with a whos most likely to prompt, and the winning duel was like this:  
  
**Final Duel: Who's most likely to start a war with the power of friendship and win?  
Duelers:   
  
Ren but he wins with fighting.  
  
cleo but she starts it with friendship fire  
  
  
** **Votes cast!  
** **  
Score:  
  
Ren but he wins with fighting (submitted by Iskall85): 10 votes  
  
cleo but she starts it with friendship fire (submitted by falsesymmetry): 12 votes  
  
Winner:  
  
cleo but she starts it with friendship fire  
  
falsesymmetry won!  
  
** "Man, that was a fun round!" False yawned, the late-night getting to her.  
  
"Yeah but who voted on 'mumbo but winning by pure luck', that's true and all, but man." Mumbo sighed.  
  
"Well, it's no worse than 'Aeth winning but accidentally switching sides halfway through'. Skep I already knew you wrote that at the beginning." Aeth sipped on some orange juice.  
  
"Man, this round was still amazing though. Can't believe that Siren's didn't beat Joe's though." Tango grinned, drinking whatever unholy combination of drinks he accidentally mixed together.   
  
"You guys up for another game or two until we sleep?" Iskall took the remote and shifted through the game options.  
  
"Yeah I'm up for more, how about we go with Lie Detector Duels?" Saint suggested.  
  
"Let's do Lie Detector then. Since you, Aeth, and Skep are new, it will be more fun." Iskall handed the remote to Xisuma, who actually chose the game option. Everyone connected to the room code and the second game started. Some of the questions and rounds for the ninjas surprised the hermits, while the other ninjas and Siren already knew.   
  
Some of the round highlights were:  
  
**Jevin can turn into a liquid.  
  
** **Jevin is able to drink lava and survive.  
  
** **Truth: Jevin can turn into a liquid (Submitted by Renthedog.)  
  
**  
**Aeth's hair grows slowly.  
  
** **Aeth made a pair of robot arms for a chicken**  
  
**Truth: Aeth made a pair of robot arms for a chicken (Submitted by Skeppy)  
  
  
Siren is friends with a Questing Ram  
  
Siren was tall when she was a kid.  
Truth: Siren is friends with a Questing Ram (Submitted by Badboyhalo)  
  
**"Wait wait wait. Pause. You're friends with a Questing Ram?!? Those are from the Twilight Forest, which is a very scary place when you're alone at night!" Mumbo looked at her like she was insane.  
  
"Oh no, I'm not lying. Her name is Peni, mainly stays in her human-like form, and Willow and I found her when we went to the Twilight Forest because we wanted to prove to our village that we could survive on our own for a month."  
  
"Well someone slap me if I'm hearing things because I'm pretty sure that you are a weirdness magnet." He rubbed at his mustache.   
  
"I mean, we weren't really _looking_ for her. Short story time right now: At the time, Willow and I were 15 in Aetherkind years, basically 10 for you guys. We found her injured and alone in the enchanted part of the forest, and her horns were glowing blue. We've heard the folklore of Questing Rams back then but never seen one, but we both knew one thing: A questing ram's mother never strays from their child. Ever. Even in the most dangerous of situations, a mother never leaves her child. So being young, we wanted to help this Questing Ram. We helped her up and took her to where we had our camp set and used some glowshrooms to heal her legs. Anyways, the next week when Willow was caring for Peni, I went out for more glowshrooms and found her mom's body on the ground, marked with mushrooms all over it."   
  
"Minoshrooms." Saint whispered.  
  
"Exactly. Thanking that the mushrooms grew quickly because if I saw the body without the mushrooms, I think I would have run out of the forest and quit learning how to heal on the spot. But yeah. Her mom was caught by Minoshrooms and there was nothing we could do about it other than care for Peni. She was around our age as well so it was easier for us to understand her." The healer yawned, taking her cup from the table and finishing the drink inside.   
  
  
"Man, that is interesting. How do you guys find the most interesting stuff within the same dimension?" Cleo crossed her arms.  
  
"Cleo, just a reminder that we have a Netherkind Creeper hybrid, a blue slime from the ocean, a cyborg, me who is a dogman, a Netherkind dragon imp, a Voidkind, and a robot. Oh, and you are a zombie as well." Ren reminded her.   
  
"Well- I- You- Hhngg." Cleo held her hand to her face. "Man. Comebacks are hard when you're tipsy."   
  
"I agree." Tango lifted his head slightly, giving a thumbs up.  
  
Xisuma got up from where he was sitting and turned off the light, leaving the group in darkness and illuminated by the warm light of the screen on the wall. Tango and Cleo mumbled a thank you as he sat down, taking the remote and continuing the game which only had 2 rounds left. 

  
**Skep's sword was handcrafted by Pitch (saints brother)  
  
** **Skeps wings are very thin and weak  
  
** **Truth: Skep's sword was handcrafted by pitch (saints brother) (Submitted by DoctorSiren)  
  
** **Bonus truth: Skep's wings are thick and are hard to break.  
  
  
Ren cant climb trees because he's always wearing stupid boots and not good shoes  
  
ren stole tangos food >:((((  
  
Truth: Ren cant climb trees because he's always wearing stupid boots and not good shoes (Submitted by iskall85)  
  
Bonus Truth: tango stole my wheat >:(   
  
  
**"Man I'm so tired...That was a good game though." Aeth yawned, stretching. He cracked his knuckles and laid on his side and rolled off of the couch, landing on Siren. "I think I'm going to bed now." He rolled off of Siren, slowly getting up and walking upstairs.  
  
"I think that's a good idea. We should all go to bed now." Xisuma got up and took his helmet off, walking upstairs into a room and coming out of it wearing a tank top  
and sweat pants. The other hermits also went upstairs, some changing into pajamas and others still wearing their usual outfit.  
  
The ninjas and Siren found a large beanbag, Skep and Saint immediately sleeping when they crashed on it, rolling around in their sleep and tangling their bodies with each other. Aeth slept next to Siren on the beanbag, a wing covering his back like a soft blanket under the weighted blanket that covered them. Iskall, Ren, Cleo, and Tango were on an air mattress across the room, Cleo taking up most of the room on it and everyone else laying on her limbs.  
  
Scar was sleeping on a bed next to the large beanbag, laying on his side and stroking Jellie's soft fur. The cat under his arm purred, moving to sleep closer to him. Jellie wasn't the only thing that was sleeping with Scar, however, as Neris flew from Aeth's hair and landed next to Jellie who didn't seem to mind it. Scar smiled, moving his hand from Jellie and stroking the cattermoth's back lightly, the soft and fuzzy fluff on Neris's back felt perfect. He pet the cattermoth's head as well, avoiding the antennae and scratching below the short horns that poked like ears. Neris made a clicking sound that mixed with a purr as it fell asleep. He fell asleep with both Neris and Jellie under his scarred arms, a smile on his face.  
  
Meanwhile, Beef and Wels were in the room next to theirs, actually sleeping in beds like responsible people. False was sleeping on a rug in between them though, and if you saw how she was sleeping, you could see she dropped there out of pure exhaustion.   
  
  
Everyone who went to bed earlier than them was sleeping in the rooms down the hall.

* * *

**You shot up awake, but you were already standing.  
  
** **Burning lands and small islands were all across the empty void, as another large island cracked and fell into the endless void.  
  
Nothing could be seen, only clouds and small islands that gave the effect of false glitching with every step you took.  
  
You tried to scream, but this wasn't your body.  
  
You were driving in the back seat. Unable to see the road ahead of the car.   
  
For only a small moment, you heard something.  
  
"Get out of my head ___"  
  
What was that? You couldn't hear the name. No.  
  
You couldn't remember it. One second you heard it, the next it was like a fog in your head.  
  
Your body turned to a portal as you felt distorted effects cloud your vision.  
  
And then you woke up.  
  
But you weren't truly awake.  
  
Fingers snapped in your vision as someone next to you turned back. A man with a beard and a lab coat with a mask in his other hand.  
  
"___, you awake? You took quite a fall there." You tried to remember his voice, but the fog in your brain didn't let you pinpoint who, or what name he said.  
  
You stumbled on your words as you looked for a response, but a hand landed on your shoulder, squeezing.  
  
"It's fine now, ____. We won it. We may not have fought, but we were the true winners of the war." He smiled, setting the mask in his other hand aside.   
  
You looked at your hands, which in one hand there was a mask just like his, and in both, they were wrapped in something white that snaked around his wrists and crept into his sleeves.  
  
Bandages.   
  
You looked up at the sunset that covered everything in a beautiful orange and yellow, the cliff you two sat on being the only visible land from where you were, other than a tall white tower with tall concrete pillars and cyan glass.  
  
The ocean and sky were orange and yellow, with a blue tone in the ocean and a rising night sky behind you.  
  
"The ______ will always win, no matter what." You two stared at the beautiful sunset.  
  
You and your friend.   
  
Your friend that you've never met.  
  
You stared at the sun for what was forever, the silence only being broken by seagulls and rockets in the distance.  
  
You wanted to stay there for forever.  
  
But eventually, you two had to leave as the night sky took over, the stars in the sky and the moonlight shining and casting light on your bodies.   
  
You entered another portal in front of a shop that seemed to be a trading place. You looked at the sign, but you couldn't focus on anything it said. Nothing tracing back to a person.   
  
The distortion of the portal hit yet again as your surroundings changed. Pistons activated and you fell into murky and dark water.  
  
Something pricked at your skin, your vision going blurry.  
  
You opened your eyes and tried to focus on what was happening.  
  
Yellow blobs swam in the water as you realized: Pufferfish.  
  
It stung.  
  
You knew you were being poisoned, which hurt more.  
  
As you felt your stomach fill with poison and your head growing lightheaded.   
  
It hurt.  
  
The sick feeling in your stomach rose to your throat as you coughed and gasped underwater.   
  
Then you felt the feeling of unconsciousness wash over you as your body puffed up in smoke, drops of blood in the water.  
  
And then you woke up.   
  
In the dirt.  
  
You panicked, reaching a hand out and clawing at the dirt that was buried above you.  
  
The hand broke the grass on the surface easily as you coughed and gasped, water spilling out of your mouth.  
  
You looked up, the sky pitch black, stars dotting it.  
  
"Welcome to the greyskins, ____"  
  
You looked to the source of the voice, in which there was a person who was entirely grey with a desaturated pale green visor blocking their eyes.  
  
The man looked familiar, but your brain fog didn't clear one bit.   
  
You looked at your hands, which were grey.   
  
You entered a mansion that seemed to be far from where you were. Warm orange torchlight blanketed you.  
  
At the end of the hallway, there was a book on a lectern.  
  
You walked towards it and looked at the book. The cover was stained roughly, gunpowder, blood, dust, glowstone, redstone on it.  
  
You opened the book, and when you did so, everything shifted once again.  
  
The lights were brighter. Rougher. Like those in a facility.   
  
A voice was next to you as something put the now freshened book down from your hands. You looked to the side where the voice was, and there was a man, tall, green, and had a dark navy blue military coat on, covering a cybernetic arm. He had no shirt under the coat, but he was wearing black pants and knee-high boots.  
  
A finger snapped in front of you as you come back to focus.  
  
"Secure the ______, ___. There's a dangerous plant kept here. We need to make sure it doesn't grow. Wear a mask and gloves." The voice was deep, gravelly, and german. And familiar.  
  
A note was slid into your hand, and to your relief, your skin wasn't grey anymore.  
  
 _B4, North hall.  
  
_** **Guessing by what the man had said, you had to maintain a dangerous plant.  
  
** **Following instructions, you went to the north hall and looked at the signs overhead until you reached a containment tape, with a keycard entrance.  
  
**_**CAUTION: CONTAINMENT ZONE. HIGH PERSONNEL ONLY. MASK AND GLOVES REQUIRED.  
  
**_**You felt around in your pockets, feeling for a small rectangular card. When you felt the edge of it, you pulled the card out and swiped it, where an airlock door opened up to a changing room.  
  
You put on a mask that was more high tech than other masks. It had a radio, oxygen tank, oxygen meter, a ringer for if the oxygen is low, and a filter.   
  
You put on a pair of gloves and entered a room that blasted a mist on you, then another door on the other side.  
  
There, there was a hall of doors, all with certain tapes around them.  
  
Scanning the signs, you saw B4 and headed up to it. A sign read on it something that you were glad you could process.  
  
_SCARA PLANT AND TOXIC MYCELIUM. REQUIREMENTS: SWORDS, SHEARS, MASK, GLOVES, KNEE HIGH BOOTS.  
  
  
_ You looked at your body in a mirror next to the door and checked if you had any. A sword was on your hip, you felt shears in your pocket, and you definitely had a mask and gloves on. All the requirements were met, so you scanned your keycard in and entered a room that blasted you with a potion effect.   
  
After that, a light next to the door blinked green and it opened up. You walked through and saw three things:  
  
Mycelium on one side of the ground, crawling into green grass.  
  
A large jungle setting, with saturated green grass on most of the ground in the fake jungle.  
  
A large, large plant with bulbs that looked like eyes and a mouth poking out of the jungle.  
  
It was scary, but you looked at the note you had and flipped it over.  
  
 _Cut down the Scara plant buds before they bloom.  
  
_  
** _ **Burn the mycelium.  
**_

**You breathed in and pulled out a sword, approaching the plant. It hissed.  
  
You crawled behind it, and under a giant leaf where the plant couldn't see you.  
  
You took a growth of buds that emerged out of the ground and chopped the bunches off, the pink buds falling to the ground. You stepped on them for extra measures.  
  
You then circled the plant, taking a bow and arrow and shooting the higher buds and flowers that were nearly blooming into more of the dangerous plant.  
  
You walked away from the plant, turning your back on it and taking a pair of flint and steel from an item frame.  
  
You put on a helmet that was next to it.  
  
You clicked a button on the mask, and a hiss emerged from the oxygen tank as you lit a small fire on the toxic ground.  
  
Instantly, toxic spores revealed themselves as the fire grew quickly in the room. You made sure no skin was showing before exiting the room, watching the mycelium burn itself to death. The fake jungle was unaffected by the fire, and so was the room.  
  
You left to the changing room, taking a shower to clean yourself of any of the spores that could have gotten on you.  
  
When you changed back into your clothes, you noticed a note in your locker.  
  
 _Good job, ___. The mycelium is gone and there are only a few non-toxic samples for testing.  
  
_ You smiled, leaving the locker rooms and tying your hair into a short ponytail. God you wanted to cut it so bad but you never had the time to. It made you look like a hippie.   
  
You met up with the taller man.  
  
"Good job ___. You can go home for the next 2 days. I still need to stay here, watch guard duty and the time machine."  
  
"Aw. Well, I hope you get your rest soon!" You smiled and pat his shoulder as you left the facility, flying with your elytra and gliding across a forest.   
  
Then you felt something distorted around you. A empty feeling as if you've been in a coma for a month. Your vision got wobbly as you crashed into a house, mind going blank.  
  
Then you woke up. Once again. Wearing a purple robe and a black tank top and a wizard hat on top. You felt around and sighed.   
  
At least your hair was short again. But now you had a short beard.  
  
A zap tingled between your fingers as a part of your hair puffed up with static.  
  
It shocked you (literally), but it didn't last. You turned to look at the sign that was on the ground, which read something.  
  
_You're a wizard, ___  
  
-Infinity Portal  
  
_You inhaled, the humid air of the jungle filling up your lungs, You sat down against a tall stalk of bamboo to rest for the afternoon.  
  
Closing your eyes, you let sleep wash over you.   
  
  
And now you're running. Running with all your strength. Running from a force of sheer terror.  
  
Your heart was strained, a red glow coming from your sternum. Your sides hurt.  
  
Your eyes glowed blue. The jungle was out to get you.   
  
A shout was heard ahead of you as you saw your cyborg friend fending off a large creeper with a cybernetic arm. His arm was bloodied and his robot eye was nearly ripped out. His shield was nearly gone and his sword was broken at the edge.   
  
You looked behind your shoulder, the feral werewolf catching up.  
  
"ISKALL!" You screamed, watching your cyborg friend getting pinned to the ground, the creeper above him had a cloak, which flowed with the sudden force.  
  
You pushed yourself to go faster, faster faster faster. A pair of withered glowing wings suddenly grew from your back as you rushed the creeper, summoning a staff and knocking it to the ground.  
  
This wasn't your friend.   
  
This was not the Doc you know.  
  
The feral creeper under him snarled and grabbed your ankle, squeezing and throwing you to a tree.  
  
The black fog from the jungle grew in on you as you saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes appearing from the fog, a low growl emerging from it.  
  
The werewolf slowly walked to him, baring their teeth.  
  
And for a moment, the yellow stopped. A look of worry in the werewolf's eyes.  
  
"Ren! I know you're still in there! Please!" You cried out, your body refusing to move.   
  
Then the yellow returned as the werewolf stoof on two legs, towering over you.  
  
A flash of white light intruded your vision.  
  
  
Then you woke up.**

* * *

**  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how long this turned out, but yeah! Writers block sucks but I'm still alive.
> 
> Expect Hardcore Jungle to be updated soon as well!


	13. Prologue (13)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But still we laugh  
> We cry  
> We fall we get high.
> 
> Just like we were kids, just like we were kids.
> 
> And when I, I'm feeling small, you get me through it all.
> 
> Just like we were kids,  
> just like we were kids again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> excuse my tired writing lol.

  
  
Scar woke up gasping in a cold sweat. The air was so cold around him. The dream hanging in his mind, not a single bit of it going away. He was shaking, his breathe was seen in the air in short, frosted puffs.  


He was so tired yet so awake. He was too shocked. The dream was too familiar. It's too cold. It's too silent.   
  
His scars burnt.

_Too familiar_.  
  
It seemed like he wasn't the only one awake, though, as someone else was also shaking.  
  
"Scar?"  
  
He knew that voice. Not as familiar but he knew it.  
  
_"What"_ He turned around to the source of the voice, body shaking like crazy.  
  
"You alright?" Aeth asked from under a blanket. He was also shaking.   
  
"Yeah- Just h- had a _very scary_ dream." His teeth chattered.  
  
Aeth shifted around to face him. Either it was dark and he was tired, or he could see a small blue and red glow from Aeth's eyes.  
  
"What was it about?"   
  
This question had no intention of making him feel this way, but it made him sick. He didn't know how to respond and he _wanted_ to tell him but his tongue decided to tie itself up.  
  
After a minute of trying to find his words, Scar spoke in a low whisper.  
  
"There was a beautiful sunset. And I was with a friend. But then I- I was being poisoned. Then I woke up in a grave and then I was in a facility? I had to cut down a plant and burn something toxic. It was all so weird but then I was running in a jungle? And Iskall was getting attacked by Doc. It wasn't Doc though- He- He wasn't like himself. Something from the jungle made him go feral and then Ren was there- _Except he was a werewolf. And he was about to kill me and something about it told me we were in hardcore._ _That's where the dream ended_." He shuddered, hugging his pillow.   
  
"That's... I had the same dream." The ninja softly said, sighing. "I've been having them recently. Every time I slept, there were dreams that were too realistic."   
  
"Really?"   
  
"Yeah." He moved Siren's wing off of him, not caring that he was cold. He stood up, stretching, and looking outside the window at the beautiful sunrise. "It's a pretty sunrise this morning. Last one you guys get of this world. Come look." He waved Scar over, changing the conversation.  
  
Scar slowly got up with a blanket wrapped around him, walking next to Aeth.  
  
"That is very pretty." Scar smiled, the sun rising with a burst of colors against the early morning sky, stars still visible and the world still dark. The two stood and watched the beautiful sky when Aeth decided to open the door, walking on the balcony.   
  
30 minutes later, something green flashed in front of the sun in a line of code.  
  
"Looks like we'll be teleported to the waiting world in an hour." Scar adjusted the blanket on him and went inside, walking downstairs to the kitchen to find an expected sight; Tango in the kitchen with Ren and Impulse, eating cereal.  
  
"What are you three doing at 5 am?"   
  
"It's 5 am?!?" Tango looked to the stairs, where Scar stood.   
  
"Yeah. It is." He rubbed his eyes.  
  
"... _O h"_ Ren set his spoon down, staring off in the distance.  
  
"Please don't tell me you spend the last hour awake down here doing whatever things you guys do."  
  
No response.  
  
"Oh my god, guys you need to get more sleep than just 2 hours."   
  
"Hey! It's not our fault that someone woke us up with magic!" Tango complained as he opened the fridge, pulling out a box of leftover desserts that Ren made.  
  
"What magic?"  
  
"It was like teleporting and choking sorta, and it hit us in a burst. I've only felt it when glitching out." Ren buried his face in his hands out of exhaustion. "Tango, could you heat up the mango balls for me as well?"  
  
"Yeah sure."  
  
Then they were left in silence, the hum of the microwave filling it. Aeth stood at the top of the staircase, laying down and blocking the way, unnoticed by everyone downstairs.   
  
The microwaved beeped as Tango pulled out the plate of chocolate-mango-coconut balls, setting it on the table. Ren immediately took one and popped it into his mouth, not caring about the heat of it burning his tongue and teeth. Tango lazily watched the dogman eat the dessert with no regard for how much it would burn.  
  
"Did you get to try these last night dude?" Ren asked, taking another ball. Tango shook his head, picking a ball out of the pile and putting it in his mouth. He chewed for a bit before nodding.   
  
"Nice taste, tingly and all in my throat, but a little itchy on my mouth and it makes it a bit hard to breathe, but I like these." He smiled, swallowing it and reaching for another before Scar slapped his hand away. "What?! I'm just getting another ball!"  
  
"Either you want to give yourself an allergic reaction, or you literally have no clue you're allergic to mangos." His voice was less alive than it usually was, but that was probably the fact that he was tired and serious.   
  
"Huh?"  
  
_"_ _Tango since when were you allergic to mangos-"  
  
_"I've never tried a mango before-"   
  
"YOU WHAT." Impulse didn't yell this. He was just being bold.  
  
"Yeah, In the Nether, before I came here, we had no mangos. Too hot for them to grow. " He shrugged, scratching his arms.   
  
"Jeez-" Scar stepped back, sitting on a barstool. Tango coughed.  
  
He coughed again.

Scar noticed it.  
  
Then the other man descended into a coughing fit, wheezing with every pained gasp in between. He bent over, hands wrapped around his stomach. Ren and Impulse quickly got up and looked for something to help him with, nothing turning up in their hands.  
  
"Get him to the bathroom. He's gonna throw up sooner or later." Scar said, searching through a few cabinets and panicked.   
  
Ren and Impulse nodded, bringing the wheezing Netherkind to the bathroom. Scar winced as he heard retching emerge from the room.   
  
"Yikes..." He hung his head low, going over to the sink and filling a cup of water.   
  
Ren burst out of the bathroom, grabbing a rag and soaking it in a healing potion. Both of his hands were stained with blood.   
  
"What the-?"  
  
"The mango isn't the only thing that's affecting Tango-"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"He's coughing up blood. I don't know why and I'm sure it's not just from the mango but he is. And his skin is cracking and also glowing." Ren ran back into the bathroom, setting the rag on Tango's rapidly cracking skin.   
  
Someone walked downstairs rather fast.   
  
"What's going on- Oh. Oh no-" Aeth jumped from the last step and rushed next to Scar. He saw Tango in the bathroom and his eyes went wide as he ran back upstairs.   
  
"Aeth where are you going!" Scar ran to the bottom of the stairs, watching the ninja rush into the bedroom. He sighed, turning around and walking to the fridge, looking for any ice. Or any cold water.   
  
Just something he could do to help would be nice.   
  
But alas, the only thing he could do was wet another rag and bring a cup of water to Tango. The sight was quite disturbing for the terraformer, and he gagged at the blood on the ground mixed with stomach acids and chunks of food. The smell was of copper, and a mix of mango as well.   
  
He knelt and propped the Netherkind against himself, pressing the cup of water against his dry lips. Tango slowly reached himself against the cup drank the water, his breath shaky.   
  
He rested his head back on Scar, breathing slightly less shaky. Blood had stained the glass where his lips made contact with it.  
  
"Jesus Christ..." Scar pushed Tango's hair away from his forehead and pressed his hand against it. "I don't think this is just a mango allergy." He looked at Impulse and Ren, who were quickly trying to prevent Tango's skin from cracking anymore. He tossed his wet rag to Impulse, who caught it and immediately started placing it on Tango's leg.  
  
Talking could be heard outside the bathroom door as Aeth and Skep came into view.   
  
"Guys! Do any of you two know what's going on with him? He's burning up and his skin is cracking and all I know is that he's allergic to mangos but this isn't normal."  
  
The two exchanged a glance and nodded at Scar.  
  
"The reaction most likely set off something in his body and now he's overheating. The cracked skin is the result of it. Netherkind don't react well to allergies when they have potions in their system." Skep knelt down and held a hand to the Netherkind's forehead, quickly pulling his hand back at the heat. "Yup. He's burning up." He turned on the sink, setting it to cold.   
  
"We gotta cool him down. I don't think it's going to kill him, but prolonged sickness is one of the worst ways to die." He took a now-bloodied rag and soaked it under the ice-cold water, getting all the blood off it.   
  
"We're trying the best we can here."  
  
"I know- Aeth! Could you get Siren or Bad here? I don't think I'm best for this."   
  
Aeth nodded, running back upstairs.   
  
  
He brought both Saint and Siren down hastily, Siren immediately using her magic to heal the glowing cracks in his skin, and Saint using his void to try and cool the Netherkind down.   
  
After a while of panic, stress, and sickness, the mess subsided, Skep and Scar cleaning the mess on the floor while Ren and Impulse slept with Tango on the couch. 

* * *

  
EX sat at his desk, exhausted.  
  
He had spent all night trying to gain info on Stress, and he had found enough information about her to hopefully satisfy Eskall. But here he lay, his coffee cold and his head fallen on a keyboard. A knock on the door was heard as the door creaked open.  
  
_Who's there.  
  
_"Ex? Are you okay? You haven't been replying to my messages and I know you're awake."  
  
_Badtimes. Why is he here?  
  
_Worry was evident in his voice, but the Voidkind didn't bother paying attention. Everything was blurry and his vision was spinning.   
  
"How long have you been up?"   
  
_I don't want to answer._

Something warm was placed on his head as a force moved his head away from the cool keyboard. He didn't want to open his eyes but his body was too tired to keep them closed. He made eye contact with Badtimes for a few moments before he turned his head away.  
  
"Dude. Answer me, are you alright?"  
  
EX mumbled something before leaning back, head making contact with the chair's headrest.   
  
Everything was a blur.  
  
He didn't know how long he had been standing up for. But he didn't care. He felt the nice feeling of unconsciousness finally start to fall over him.   
  
_"EX!"_  
  
But something shook him back to reality as all of his senses came crawling back.  
  
"What?! Wh- Huh?" He looked around his surroundings, no longer in his bedroom but instead in a Netherkind's village home, laying on a bed. He saw someone next to his side, concerned look all over his face. "What-"  
  
"You're finally awake." Badtimes smiled. "We have a dimension to burn."  
  
Another voice from another side of him spoke up.  
  
"Dude, you gotta stop overworking yourself." The familiar and ghostlike face of Cubvex greeted him. The large vex spirit pat his shoulder. "It isn't healthy for you."   
  
The voidkind softly smiled.  
  
"Did you manage to get yourself out of the Aether? Like, your other half of your soul? Your brother?" He asked the vex spirit. A hesitant look on the Vex's face flashed before it was covered with an unknown emotion. It was like a smile though also regretful.  
  
"Of course. He's in the room next door, but he's probably going to be unconscious for the next few days." He crossed his arms, sighing. "I ran into some issues with a ninja, but I managed to snap his weapons in half. Don't know where he is now though. But that aside, we're in the waiting world right now. Get some rest if you want."  
  
"Thanks, Cub."  
  
"You don't need to." The Vex turned his head and smiled before walking through the door.   
  
This left the two evil hermits in silence for a few minutes.  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
Badtimes pulled out his communicator and checked.  
  
"10 AM."   
  
"Alright."  
  
The two were left in more silence.  
  
...  
  
"You can leave the room if you want to. I'm fine now."  
  
"Yeah, but I want to stay here." Badtimes hummed.   
  
"Mkay." EX turned around in bed, facing the builder. Badtimes lightly sang a song under his breath.   
  
_"But still we laugh, we cry, we fall we get high- just like we were kids, just like we were kids again..."  
  
_ EX slowly realized he was being dragged into a nap with the calming aura in the room preserving him in an everlasting sense of safety, his best friend's singing adding as a backup.

* * *

  
  
Iskall woke up in a bed. He usually did that.  
  
But this bed was different. It was more... what was the word for it-  
  


Fresh.  
  
Unused.  
  
No past, just an infinite present, the draping pink curtains, the birch wood walls, the dark oak wood floor with a pink carpet on top, and the blend of spruce and dark oak furniture. The air was also something he loved; Fresh and like that of honey, like the smell of after it rains. It smelled like strawberries too.  
  
He took in the beautiful surroundings outside the window, the green spring trees, the pink leaves, NPCs guiding players to minigames, the big nether portal glowing purple. He's never been in this waiting world, but it seemed to have a history that he couldn't place his finger on.  
  
The cyborg looked to the side. A bed was set next to the wall, with False sleeping in it soundly under pink sheets.   
  
He looked in a mirror next to a desk, taking note if any of his clothes had changed.  
  
Blue hoodie and black shorts, and a grey T-shirt.   
  
Nothing much had changed then, and his mechanical eye was now back to blue.   
  
He sighed.

The redstoner left the room, looking for his world transfer chest. He walked down the hall of doors, the hermits names written on them.  
  
Eventually, he found a staircase that lead down to a cozy lobby with a cafe. Other players were relaxing on sofas, drinking coffee, light chatter filling up the room. He noticed someone sitting at a counter in an outfit that fit the NPCs working at the cafe. He walked up to them.  
  
"Hey, do you know where the world transfer chests are?"  
  
"End of the first hallway on the right." They immediately replied, pointing to the hallway,  
  
"Thanks."   
  
He turned around, walking to the hallway until he reached the desired door, a white enderchest logo above the door handle. The cyborg slowly opened the door and a large room had greeted him. A blue light was the only light source, giving the room a cold feel.  
  
There were a few piles of chests, each one divided by the server they were from.   
  
A pile of unusual chests had snatched his attention, however, as they different than the other chests in the room: The chests were black and stone-like as if they were made of bedrock. Purple particles surrounded them like embers from the end. The cyborg was intrigued, and he approached the pile to inspect the strange chests of their details and also which server they were from. The names on the chests had been partially blocked out by cobwebs and dust, but he could make an idea of what they were.  
  
A bright and glowing purple symbol was placed above the server name, almost like a tiny disassembled portal.   
  
**Evolutionists.**

Well, nothing too special, other than the strange texture they had.  
  
Right?   
  
Right.  
  
Iskall sighed, walking away from the unusual pile and going to search from the hermit's chests. He checked the chests for his name, and after a small bit of searching, he came across his iskallium dusted chest.  
  
It clicked itself open when he came into range, allowing the redstoner to search through it. The expected items and clothes he stored in there loaded in, but those weren't what he was searching for. He sat in front of the chest and dug around, pushing a few crystals of iskallium away looking for what he needed.  
  
And then he came to the realization that: he had forgotten what he was even looking for or why he was there.  
  
So he just sat there, in front of the chest, trying to remember what he forgot.   
  
He must have zoned out entirely because then the next thing he knew, someone clapped in front of his face, pulling him out of his little world.  
  
"-Iskall, what are you doing?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
He looked to the source of the British voice to see a small woman in a salmon-colored jacket, with a white T-shirt and turquoise shorts looking at him confused. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a ponytail.   
  
"Oh, don't worry about me. You're Stress, right?" He leaned forward and started to look through the chest again.  
  
"Mhm! That's me!" She smiled widely. "So, whatcha searchin' for?"  
  
"I brought a sword with me here, hopefully, what my friend said about it is true and that I can bring it across worlds." He moved aside another crystal that fell on his hand before seeing a small shine of the color-changing blade. "Aha!" He felt for the handle and pulled it out, the blue and faint light from above hitting the blade, a faint pastell rainbow aura surrounding it.  
  
"That's gorgeous! Where did you find it!?"  
  
"I went to the end and found it." He stared at the blade as he usually did, in awe of its beauty. It was bigger than it was in the overworld yesterday, slightly longer than a usual diamond sword. The blade wasn't shining with any enchantments anymore, probably due to the world change. "I can never not stare at this."   
  
"It's so lovely, I would love to have a sword like that! I also brought a sword but I can't really bring it into the next season to fight, so it just stays as a decoration."  
  
"Oh really?"   
  
"Yeah! It's a diamond sword but pink! It has a crystalized flower in place of the tiny green gem! It was a gift from my friend a few years ago." She smiled widely as she jumped to her chest, reaching in and pulling out the said sword.   
  
"That's absolutely omega!"  
  
"I know right? The other people in my town didn't like it because it wasn't 'cool' but I think it's lovely!! I've always fought with it before I moved onto servers, and I realized it had a bit of witch magic after a while. If I brought it onto servers I usually got kicked because it's an 'unknown entity' disguised as a diamond sword. Oh well." She shrugged.  
  
"Oh, I can definitely imagine that happening." The redstoner sat on his chest after closing it, leaning back and looking at the dark stone ceiling. Stress joined him, sitting on her chest. "So, how did you get brought to hermitcraft?"  
  
Stress hesitated for a moment at the question, but then she spoke up. "I went traveling through a few dimensions at the time, searching for a place to stay. You see, my town didn't approve of me so I ran away, and I bumped into X on the way. We spoke for a bit and I told him my situation, and he let me in a private world for just the two of us after we hung out for a few months. Then last month he agreed with me that he would let me in next season. How about you?"  
  
"Oh! I was invited by Ren after he got invited. Nothin too much, but this season was _super_ fun. I remember Xisuma was handing me and Py some wine in the middle of a court session, Wels was sooo done with us when Py drank an invisibility potion and left the courtroom. I don't think any of us had a clue what we were doing other than Scar, but aw man. That was fun."   
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Yeah!"   
  
"That is wild." Stress chuckled. "No way would my town have let anyone do that. Ahh, you guys are interesting." She smiled at the ground before looking back up at the ceiling.   
  
The two sat there peacefully staring up for a while, both of them with their own sword laying at each side.   
  
After a bit, Iskall spoke up.  
  
"Do you want to have a duel?" The cyborg asked.  
  
"What?" She scoffed. "Why a duel?"  
  
"I feel in the mood to battle, I wanna see what magic your sword has. Cmon!" He got up and jumped down from the chests. "Right here, right now!"   
  
"Alrighty!" She switched her sword to her other hand, joining the cyborg on the ground to battle. "Let's go then!" She grinned.  
  
Iskall gripped the Feathered Protector. The two rushed each other, Iskall dodging her moves, and Stress blocking his. Their blades clashed against each other, the two unarmored people backing the other up.   
  
The cyborg dipped low, sweeping his leg under her feet. Stress fell on her butt, sword nearly falling out of her hand. Iskall pointed his blade to her face, smirking. Stress grinned.  
  
"GG-" Iskall was _about_ to say she lost, but then he felt something wrap around his arm like a thick string. "What the-?"  
  
Stress stood up, her posture more defined as she was using her sword's magic, wrapping a thick, pink, glowing wrap around his arm and swinging him aside. The cyborg crashed against the wall, dropping his sword. The whip faded away as Iskall scrambled to regain hold of his sword.   
  
The newer of the two kicked it aside, looming over the higher menacingly. Iskall was intimidated, but that didn't stop him from pushing himself off the wall and kicking his blade up like a skateboard and aiming to stab near Stress's chest. She blocked it, as expected, then retaliated with an attempted swing.  
  
Iskall moved out of the way, swinging his sword in a way to make Stress back up. It worked, the cyborg successfully backing her against a wall with each hit being blocked. She caught on, however, and grunted, spinning around as she used the whip around his legs, tying him up. She spun him around, keeping the cyborg suspended in the air. He sliced through the whip, however, and landed on the ground.   
  
Stress was caught by surprise, yet continued. She wrapped the magical whip around his sword and yanked it out of his hand, pulling it to herself. She grabbed the color-changing blade by the handle, changing her stance.  
  
Iskall was caught off-guard from how she was able to hold it, but he pushed those thoughts aside, resorting to hand-to-hand combat against two swords and a whip. She ran at him, wrapping the whip around both of his wrists together and spinning around in circles, lifting the cyborg off the ground. Stress jumped, using the Feathered Protector to cut the line, which launched Iskall directly at the wall. In the process, her magical sword was also launched at him and struck its blade directly into the wall right next to his head.   
  
He grinned, pulling the sword out of the wall. Now the tides were turned, Stress with Iskall's sword and Iskall with Stress's pink diamond sword.   
  
Iskall felt magical energy surround him as he launched himself into the air, headed for Stress at a high speed. She turned to the side, which as a result, he zoomed past her, the sword cutting off her ponytail and cutting her ear. The cyborg crashed against a pile of empty chests, shoulder getting the brunt of the hit.   
  
"Owwhh-" He groaned in pain, bones shaken up. Stress was also panting as she collapsed next to him, sweaty.   
  
"That- Was. So. Fun." She laughed. "We should do that again!"   
  
"Not anytime... soon. Gosh, that was exhausting- How do you even manage to control the magic?"  
  
"It's hard, but with time and experience, you get used to it!"   
  


The two sat there, laying on top of the hermit's chests, worn out and laying against the cool stone walls. They returned the blades to their chests as well, in case if anyone had entered. Because soon after their short battle, Xisuma walked into the large room looking for a set of armor he left in his chest. Iskall helped Stress with healing, for cuts, scrapes, and bruises.   
  
Later, the two went to get some coffee and donuts from the cafe, spiking up some conversations and getting to know eachother

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took forever to write. the battle scene is inspired by SAD-ists techno vs dream animation (go check it out!) 
> 
> also pretty rushed as well.


	14. Prologue (14)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eskall picks up a trace of nether magic, i make bbh and skeppy and siren and aeth cry, iskall is bored :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI YES I HAVE MOTIVATION FOR ONCE AFTER A WHILE?? HEH??? ANYWAYS YEAH IGOT A SUPER NICE AND GOOD COMMENT AND PLEASE COMMENT O N CHAPTERS IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE BECAUSE OH MAN DO THEY MOTIVATE ME TO HELL AND BACK! :D IM HAPPY RIGHT NOW
> 
> (edit from later: this chapter was indeed pain to write but eh who cares about opinions I'm still learning :D)

  
  
Eskall wasn't so sure if anyone was gonna drop by at all today after what had happened yesterday. Like, sure, he's pretty sure that the blue hoodie he woke up with wasn't his, it was very comfortable and all, but he was confused. Why did he blackout? Why was he in so much aching pain? It was confusing. But when wasn't he confused?  
  
Something buzzed as his red mechanical eye picked up something, something he never thought he'd see.  
  
Someone in the waiting world using... a certain type of magic?  
  
He couldn't remember.  
  
 _Think you dummy, think._ He snapped his finger three times _trying_ to place his mind on the world.  
  
 _Aether magic? Sorta._ _Nonono- It's Nether magic! How could I be such a fool to not recognize it-  
  
_ _But why in the waiting world?_  
  
The commander sighed. He didn't wanna get frustrated today, so he found spare elytra that an NPC was handing out and clipped it on, and flew to the large gateway portal. He stepped through, letting the slightly nauseating effects mess with his gut for a moment before the main waiting world intensely attacked his eyes, the brightness harsh against him. As much as he hated to say: He liked it better than the Hellscape Nether. Sure, it was his home, but it's so unpredictable- one day there's no fire and it's 40 degrees, the next it's 100 degrees and you're all at Den's house trying to get the man to let you have some cool air.   
  
He shook his head, flicking a switch on his eyepiece. Things have been crazy lately and something needed a change. _He_ needed a change. But how?   
  
Upon the flick of the switch, his vision changed into energy readings. Instantly, a ringer in his head beeped as he found that a lot of energy was settling down at an Inn-like building, with a sign saying Hermitcraft on it.  
  
Well that didn't take long.  
  
He walked over to the cafe connected to the inn, opening the doors. An NPC greeted him almost immediately, asking if he'd like to order something. The commander declined, looking around. He noticed two people going up the stairs, the Nether magic following them. One was wearing a blue hoodie like his. Eskall followed them, looking for where they were headed. The blue hoodied one turned around, laughing about some joke or whatever. The one in the pink cardigan turned with him, chuckling. Both of them looked a bit beat up, light and new cuts spread around their exposed skin.   
  
"Iskall you dummy!" The british voice was very familiar to the commander. The woman nudged his shoulder as Iskall threw his hands up stammering.  
  
"Well diorite is an ugly block! What else was I supposed to do, let it stay up in my mines? The best thing to do is explode it!" He exclaimed.   
  
"Well you had your base in the mines! It could have collapsed or something!"  
  
"Don't worry, I could have respawned! It's only a few days of immense pain on my back after that anyways.."   
  
"Ah, man. You are very strange." She shook her head, looking up. Iskall snickered.   
  
But she stopped when she looked up to see Eskall leaning on the wall. Iskall also stopped his snickering to note him.  
  
"Eskall?" The other cyborg asked. "What are you doing here-?" He was quickly shushed by the commander.  
  
"Hush. I'm not here for you, you pesky alternate." He quickly dismissed the other.  
  
 _Eskall had in fact come here for him.  
  
  
  
_ "Then who are you here for? Stress? Ren? Xisuma?"  
  
"I'm here for Stress. I need to have a little talk with her."  
  
"Why do you want to have a talk with me?? What do I have?"   
  
"Important and private things that don't concern you."  
  
"Such as..?" The redstoner crossed his arms. "I'm literally just you but different. Just tell me."  
  
"Yeah but I'm better at you than... Literally everything."  
  
Iskall scoffed at the remark. Eskall sighed, not wanting to put up with himself  
  
"You want to come with? Because I'll bring you with me into the discussion." Eskall walked past the two, pulling on both of their arms and dragging them into a pitch-black room, but nobody turned on the lights.  
  
"Alrighty you tiny people, here's the thing: Stay away from the deep Nether next season. At all costs. Don't even _think_ about heading in there. And if you see blue vines and glowing purple mushrooms: **Turn around and run. Do _not_ let a single bit of it touch you.**"  
  
He couldn't see anyone's faces right now, but Eskall could tell both Iskall's and Stress's were only just filled with "?????????". He sighed, clenching his fist.  
  
 _Hold back._ He told himself.  
 _  
_"I can tell you're confused, so I'll explain the best I can: Those glowing purple mushrooms? Yeah, those are glowshrooms. They look pretty, but if you're not related to Netherkind or a mushroom mob or anything Nether related really, then you should not touch them. They spread quickly when they get into your skin, and then they travel through your blood and flesh until they reach your brain and organs. Then the glowshroom spores eat away at specific parts of the brain as it releases a parasite into it, taking control of the host's body. It feels like nothing at first, but once it starts traveling to your brain, then everything hurts like hell.  
  
Eventually, the parasite has full control of the body, and the player side is lost and can't do anything."  
  
"How do you know this?" Iskall asked with suspicion. "Are you guys hiding something?"  
  
"Jeez, guess nobody can trust me huh. Can't blame you guys though..." Eskall reached around his mechanical eye, unclipping the magnets and hinges. "Turn on your eye's flashlight."  
  
"How do you know that I have a-"  
  
"We have the same eyepiece model. Just do it."   
  
Iskall clicked a plate, the diamond lense sending a single beam of light onto Eskall's face, illuminating all of his features. Half of it, where his eyepiece covered more than Iskall's eyepiece, was scarred and almost withered away. Dark purple lines ran through where his eye was supposed to be, like fungi spread through his face. And where his eye was supposed to be, it wasn't there, and it only showed a hollow eye socket with something similar to moss growing in it. Then there were the metal hinges and magnets on the sides of his face that were supposed to be for his eyepiece.   
  
It was very creepy.   
  
  
  
"How did you get that though? And how does this disprove to any fact that you are very suspicious?" Iskall inquired.   
  
Eskall raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh. Yeah, I'm an idiot."   
  
"So can you believe me now?"   
  
Stress nervously nodded with Iskall. "But what does this have to do with me? Is there something I don't know?"  
  
"And that brings me to my second and third point, Stress: You have been in contact with glowshrooms and you know Nether magic."  
  
"No I haven't?? What do you mean?"  
  
Eskall ran a hand through his hair and put his mechanical eye back on as he pulled her wrist up, inspecting it.   
  
"Could you use a bit of magic on your hand? Any magic you know. Just do it."  
  
Stress hesitated before she shot a tiny flash of blue fire from her palm, a glowy purple vine pattern spiraling down her wrist as she did so. It faded soon after and the light fading with it.  
  
"Yup. You have. You haven't realized it yet, but judging by the pattern of the vines, you're safe from the glowshrooms because you have a connection to the Nether in a magic link."  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
 _Poor Stress, all confused and innocent. Completely unaware of her status against **Them** _Eskall thought before continuing his explanation  
  
"I'm saying that you _do_ know Nether magic, and that keeps you immune to the effects of glowshrooms. Meaning that you must have a connection to the Nether Being if you've been in contact with glowshrooms. And if they find out about you and your history, they wouldn't hesitate to mark you as their enemy. Also before I leave, let me just say; Don't use your modded blade here, the universe never takes kindly to server crashers." And with that, the commander opened the door and left, door slamming behind.  
  
  
  
_Server crashers? Weren't those in old tales?_  
  
A weird unnerving noise crept from behind the two.   
  
Iskall looked behind his shoulder.  
  
"Boo!"  
  
Iskall jumped, instinctively hitting his fist in the air, but instead of air, he hit a shoulder. Was it a shoulder? It felt like a shoulder.   
  
The lights turned on as a tan man in a brown sweater and blonde wavy hair chuckled. "Sorry there! I saw you guys talking from the other side of the room and when that other dude left I wanted to pull a small prank! I'm Zedaph by the way!"   
  
"Oh! I'm Iskall!"  
  
"Nice! I was talking with Ren for a bit, he told me about you before he fell back asleep." Zedaph reached a hand out to shake, which Iskall took.   
  
"Whgh... Who's there...?" The voice of Ren spoke from inside a blanket burrito, sluggish and tired, but awake. Barely.  
  
"It's Iskall and Stress."   
  
"Ohm, hi guys." Ren waved, his tail wagging like a puppy. "I'm so tired. Mgoin back to bed." He added another blanket to his burrito, leaving Zed's bed without any blankets.  
  
Zedaph pouted but soon smiled, getting up to turn the lights back off. "I got a debriefing of Hermitcraft already, oh yeah- all of the weird things in the Nether? I already knew that!"  
  
"Oh, that's great." Iskall mumbled as he shuffled to the door. "I'm gonna go now.." He awkwardly smiled as he reached for the handle. Zed nodded, hopping back in bed and pulling a blanket off Ren.  
  
"Can't wait to meet you in the next season!" He added right before Iskall and Stress left. Stress waved and followed the cyborg until they parted and went to their own rooms.   
  
  
Iskall plopped on his bed, not before tugging his hoodie off and throwing it in a bin. False was up and awake by then, reading a book in bed and a blanket pulled to her chest.  
  
"Why do you look beat up?"   
  
"I played around with some training dummies. Let's just say that I accidentally started a fight with magic and myself.." He lied. "But anyways- Whatcha readin?"  
  
"Oh- Just another one of those mythologies books that Xisuma handed me a couple of years ago." She responded, showing the book cover to the cyborg before returning to reading it.   
  
"Mhm.." He hummed and nodded before looking at the window, sun shining in beautifully. The giant nether portal off to the left and at the end of the street was quite nice, decorations around the fence, the giant purple magic that made up the gateway... He loved staring at portals for hours on end sometimes when he was bored. Something about the structure seemed so close to home. Maybe it was the way it swirled, maybe it was the carvings in the obsidian.

"Are you gonna go to the festival tomorrow?" False asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.   
  
"Festival?" He snapped his head around back to False as he repositioned himself to his other side. "What festival?"  
  
"Yeah! You know, when other people from other worlds get to meet up and compare achievements, sometimes trading artifacts and giving gifts to each other? It's very fun! That's how I got these goggles, when I first met the hermits at a festival, Mumbo gave me these goggles! Then chaos happened after. I remember when we all got stuck in that hole as well.." She giggled, the memory still in her head and making her light up as she slowly changed the topic.   
  
"Oh yeah? I think I might participate then if it was that fun!" The man didn't know what he'd do there, but it seemed interesting enough.   
  
"Yeah! Ohh man I remember... Remember the beginning of the season? That was one of my favorite times, the first day. Just- Ahhh man... I hope we get one of those starts again next season, yeah?"  
  
"Yeah. I remember when we were all in that cave together as well, the first night.. And when Cleo went off in that boat? And Ren and Py? Just pure and utter fun. Man, I hope we get to see some people making a return because I remember Xisuma talking about someone making a return... BdoubleO was it?"  
  
"Bdubs! Oh yeah him! I remember he was at the festival where I met the hermits for the first time, but he never was there for season 2. Oh well.." She shrugged. "He seems like an interesting guy though!"   
  
"Mhm.. Yeah." Iskall smiled turning around in bed and pulling out his communicator to catch up on the chat. There wasn't much really other than Xisuma asking for Aeth, Saint, Skep, and Siren to talk with him.

He didn't know what to do for the rest of the day, so he went out for a walk through the buildings, a marketplace selling clothes, and a trading hall with villagers, NPCs offering build battle games. He asked to play some skyblock with Biffa, in which the robot agreed. So there they were, on an island and a ball of magic that was shaped like a button offering to take them back.   
  
They spent their time on that island and slowly building it up. 

After some time at around night, they both hit that magic ball and spawned back in their beds. 

* * *

= _A few hours earlier=_  
  


Aeth stared at the message. Why would Xisuma need him? Well the answer was obvious, discussing new hermit rules and such, but why would he need Siren? He could still answer that question but he still asked it. Uncle Skep and Uncle Halo? Probably the same answer as Siren's.   
  
He pulled his flannel coat on, memories of this morning still in his mind. Neris chittered before flying on his shoulder, rubbing its fluffy face against his cheek. Man the size of this cattermoth-

The ninja walked out the door and headed over to the admin's room, but before he could knock the door was swung open, catching him by surprise. Siren stepped to the size and let him min.

"Aeth, Siren, Halo, Skep?"  
  
"Mhm?" Aeth hummed, shutting the door.   
  
"There's something I need to bring up to you all."  
  
"What is it??" The tallest one asked, tilting her head.  
  
"You both should definitely be aware by now of what happened to the Aether, right?"  
  
All of them nodded. Xisuma looked at them with a sad look in his eyes, the news he was about to bring up not being any better. He sighed, unknowing of how to let the news out. He took another breath as he spoke once more.  
  


"The upper lands have fallen. It's gone. They're all gone. I don't think enough of them have made it for you guys to save. "  
  
Siren's eyes went wide as she pulled Aeth close to her. Aeth went tense, Skep stared in disbelief, and Saint felt tears pricking at his eyes. The news had hit them like an arrow through the heart.   
  
"No- But- I thought we- I thought that they-" The shadowling tried to speak, but his words were choked off as his body was shaking.  
  
"It's just the lowerlands now..." Skep whispered. The admin nodded once more. "We only managed to save two hundred... All those people. We've failed. We swore to protect them and we've _failed!_ " the Aetherkind's breath hitched. Saint simply cried into his best friend's shoulder.   
  
Siren shook her head. "My friends... Are they safe? Is Peni safe? Is my family-"  
  
Skep looked up at her, eyes hollow. "I don't know." Was all he uttered before pulling her into a hug. She wrapped her wings around the ninjas, sobbing. Aeth didn't join as he sat on a couch, burying his head in hands as Neris climbed off his shoulder and onto his lap, resting as it tried purring to comfort him.   
  
  
Xisuma watched them. It hurt his heart so much... He hated it. He wished that he could have done something before it was too late. He'd wished that he could have prevented it all. But he wasn't an Aether admin. He couldn't have done anything at the time. It practically happened overnight.   
  
"I can't bring any of you guys back there until season 5 starts, which is around 5 days from now. You'd have to stay with us until then." 

Saint nodded as he sat on a chair, pulling away from the hug. His face looked human-like now- As in the void had dissipated a little bit. His eyes were still a blank and groggy grey, his tiny antennae glowing, and tears were streaming down his cheeks, but he sure did have skin.   
  
"I'm really sorry guys.." The admin shook his head. "There's a festival tomorrow, however... And you may want to go there with the other hermits. In the meantime.. you can hang around with the others, or with yourselves. "   
  


The smaller aetherkind looked up with a face full of sorrow, shaking his head before sighing, unable to process words. "I don't know man.. I think I'm gonna just.. go fight an armor stand."   
  
Saint looked up at Skep as he left the room, but he followed soon after. That left Siren and Aeth in the room with Xisuma.  
  
"X I-"  
  
"It's not your fault Siren."  
  
Siren glanced up at him before letting her gaze fall back to the floor. She sat down, burying her head in hands, the feeling unable to be shaken off.  
  
"Would you two like some tea?"  
  
"Sure..." the healer mumbled, staring at the lava lamp that glowed on the table, the way the insides swirling around were creating weird bubbles that rose before being thrown around gently and making more blobs. At least it giving her a little sliver of calmness despite the situation at hand. X left the room for a little bit to make the tea, but when he came back, he also threw a blanket over the two, with Aeth mumbling a thank you while Siren remained silent.   
  
Xisuma set the tea down in front of Siren and on the table beside Aeth.   
  
"Careful, it's still hot." He told them as he hooked his communicator up to a screen and playing a movie for the two.

That's how they spent their day, with Saint and Skep doing parkour and playing bed wars together to try and get the weight off their backs, and Siren Xisuma and Aeth watching movies together.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter  
> took  
> TWO MONTHS  
> to get to actually writing  
> gjfdnfjgdfgdfg
> 
> and its not even that good :pensive:

**Author's Note:**

> scream at me:  
> Chromatons on Wattpad  
> chromations on tumblr  
> @Chreem1 on Twitter
> 
> thanking the ssau server for giving me headcanons


End file.
